B J 

.3)3 



JSf^aVeandJ^ue 

JALKS JO J/OUNG jMEN 





K 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



... gtomn 



ftn- 



©Imp* (B^ rigfct Ifo 

Shelf :.>J?_3 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




Brave and True. 



Companion IDolumes 

Unifo?-m with this Edition. 



jflfcOra! .flkUSCle, attO bOW tO USe it. A Brotherly Chat 

with young men. By Frederick A. Atkins. i6mo., 

cloth, $ .50. 

" It is positively the best book for young men we have seen, 
and ought to be in the hands of every young man in the country. 
We can certify that no one will find it stupid.' — St. Andrew's Cross. 

"We are under the impression that we have already given 
a favorable notice to this excellent series of addresses to young 
men. If we have, it will do no harm to repeat it, for the addresses 
are excellent in matter, and energetic, as they ought to be, in 
style." — Churchman. 

aflret battles ano 1bow to afigbt Cbem. Some 

Friendly Chats with young men. By Frederick A. 
Atkins, editor of The Young Man. i6mo., cloth, 

$.50. 

Contents. — Money and Morals — Shams — The Philosophy of 
Pleasure — What is a Gentleman? — The Lost Christ — Christ and 
Commerce — About Holidays — How to be Insignificant. 

" The object of this little book is not to teach theology, but 
there is not a sentence in it that is not in harmony with healthy 
evangelical teaching. Its perusal cannot but be useful to all who 
are just entering on life's first battles. For young men who are 
leaving school and home, and going forth to push their own way 
in the world, a more suitable gift could hardly be selected than 
First Battles, and How to Fight Them.' 1 '' 

Rev. Thain Davidson, D.D. 

^fiStaVC aitO {IrUC Talks to Young Men. By Thain 

Davidson, D.D., author of "Talks with Young 

Men," "Sure to Succeed," "A Good Start," etc. 

i6mo., cloth, $ .50. 

The author is well known as a writer for young men, and has 
presented here some sterling chapters for their consideration. He 
speaks in no uncertain tone of their moral obligations, nor ever 
suffers the hardship of duty to swerve him from his purpose. 



New York. : : FLEMING H. REV ELL COMPANY : : Chicago. 



Brave and True 



TALKS TO YOUNG MEN. 



BY 



THAIN DAVIDSON, D.D., 

Author of "Talks with Young Men," "A Good Start, 
"Sure to Succeed," etc. 




NEW YORK and CHICAGO. 

Fleming t>. 1Ret>ell Company, 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature. 



\< 



v\ 






a 



* 



Copyright, 1891, 
—BY- 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY. 



t%t Carfon (press 

171, 173 Macdougal Street, New Vork 



PREFACE 



IT is not the soldiers that do all the fight- 
ing". Many a young man who knows 

• • nothing of military drill, and never 

• * shouldered a musket in his life, has 
daily to join in a battle that puts his mettle 
and courage to the test. There are foes to 
be encountered and victories to be won in 
the office, the workshop, the exchange, or 
the street, and hundreds of other places at 
home, that demand of our youth a pluck 
and heroism quite as great as though they 
were summoned with rifle and knapsack to 
the banks of the Nile, or to the wilds of 
Afghanistan. The commercial and social 
life of to-day presents abundant opportuni- 
ties for the display of all those qualites that 
constitute true manliness. Temptations are 
more manifold and insidious than ever. A 
general tone of frivolity prevails, with an 
impatience of restraint that bodes ill for 



PRE FA CE. 



the rising generation. There is a deficiency 
of moral backbone. A man is an optimist 
indeed who does not see and deplore a lack 
of seriousness and reflection. Young men 
of thoroughgoing conscientiousness, of high 
moral courage, and inflexible loyalty to the 
truth are sufficiently rare to be conspicuous 
amongst their fellows when they do appear. 
One is reminded of the Divine appeal to the 
prophet Jeremiah in the days of old : " Run 
ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusa- 
lem, and see now, and know, and* seek in 
the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, 
if there be any that executeth judgment, 
that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon 
the city." Ten righteous men would have 
saved Sodom: it seems that one just and 
true man would have saved Jerusalem ! 

It has often been observed since the days 
of Solomon that " one sinner destroyeth 
much good," but the converse is not less 
true, that one man of stern principle and 
force of character counteracts much evil in 
a community. I have remarked it again 
and again : such an individual is a tree of 
life, a well of living waters. It is indeed 
impossible to over-estimate the influence he 



PREFACE. 



wields. It has been said with truth that 
most men overrate their talents and under- 
rate their influence. 

One has scarcely a conception how his own 
character is telling upon those around him, 
either for good or evil. If the thought is 
fitted to startle the unprincipled, it is no 
less one that ought to stimulate the virtuous 
and true. 

Be out-and-out a man of unbending recti- 
tude, true as steel, and having at all times 
the courage of your convictions; and you 
cannot fail to be a power for good amongst 
your fellow-men. 

It is remarkable with what frequent reiter- 
ation the Bible calls upon us to be of good 
courage, and to play the man. As Chris- 
tians, we are to be both brave and true. 

Even physical courage is a quality not to 
be despised. Though some affect to call it 
a mere brute attribute, it has close kinship 
with a noble character, and the want of it 
is a serious misfortune to any one. It is a 
virtue which qualifies a man for the pro- 
tection of the weak, and which makes him 
capable of many manly and invigorating 
amusements. 



8 PREFA CE. 



In almost all athletic sports and out-door 
recreations there is some element of personal 
risk, which, whilst debarring the timid and 
nervous from indulging in them, only adds 
zest to the pleasure which robuster natures 
find. 

Exercise on horseback or on the river; 
swimming, skating, and cycling; the pleas- 
ures of the foot-race, football, and baseball 
diamond — all involve some slight spice of 
danger; and if a youth is too finely strung 
for any of these he had better take at once 
to threading needles and winding Berlin 
wool. The man who at the risk of his life 
plunges in amid the foaming waves and 
grasps a sinking brother, how great his 
delight as he comes, almost breathless, beat- 
ing in to shore, and entrusts the rescued one 
to the care of his loved ones again ; or he 
who, forcing his way through smoke and 
flame, saves a woman or a child — what can 
exceed his joy when he safely descends the 
ladder, carrying the captive in his arms? 

But there is a courage to be as well as to 
do, and unquestionably the former is the 
greater of the two. This is often forgotten. 
If a man will die for his flag, many will call 



PRE FA CE. 



him a hero ; but if he is prepared to die for 
a principle, then they call him a fanatic. 
The noblest courage is that which inspires 
one to be sternly loyal to conscience, to 
duty, and to truth; to be uncompromising" 
where the honor of Christ is concerned ; to 
bear reproach, the estrangement of friends, 
and the ridicule of foes, rather than sacrifice 
what he knows to be right ; to " stand four- 
square to all the winds that blow," and set 
the face as a flint against all unrighteous- 
ness. 

The words of Gustavus Adolphus, King 
of Sweden, to the ambassador of the Elector 
of Brandenburg, are worthy to be remem- 
bered. He had been much tried by the 
fickleness of some whom he had come to 
help, and with much solemnity he said : " I 
will hear and know nothing of neutrality. 
His Highness must be friend or foe. When 
I come to his borders he must declare him- 
self hot or cold. The battle is between God 
and the devil." 

The greatest want of our time is young 
men of decided moral and religious charac- 
ter, courageous and faithful, brave and 
true, 



io PREFACE. 



In the words of Tennyson — 

" Ah God, for a man with a heart, head, hand, 
Like some of the simple great ones gone 
Forever and ever by, 
One still strong man in a blatant land, 
Whatever they call him, what care I, 
Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat — one 
Who can rule and dare not lie!" 



CONTENTS. 



i. 

How to Get on in the World, . . 13 



PAGE 



II. 

Body-culture, 22 

III. 

Honest to the Core, .... 29 

IV. 
The True Gentleman, .... 37 

V. 
Rubbish 45 

VI. 

The Love of Pleasure, .-.,.. 53 

VII. 

"The Bubble Reputation," ... 61 



CONTEXTS. 



VIII. 

PAGE 

" Hard Lines," 70 

IX. 
The Confidential Clerk, ... 78 

X. 

Out of a Situation, 85 

XL 
" A Chip of the Old Block," ... 93 

XII. 

Foolish Partridges, 101 

XIII. 
"Plants Grown up in their Youth," . 109 



BRAVE AND TRUE. 



I. 

HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. 

FREDERICK THE GREAT once re- 
marked of Joseph II,, Emperor of 

• • ■ Germany, that he always wanted to 

• • • take the second step before he had 
taken the first. This is precisely the mis- 
take which I find many young men making, 
and which is sufficient to account for their 
not getting on in the world. They want to 
escape everything like initial drudgery, and 
to leap at once into a position of ease, if not 
of luxury. It is no good sign of the times, 
that there is a growing disposition to shirk 
manual labor of all kinds: physical toil is 



14 BRAVE AND TRUE. 



distasteful : the young man of the day much 
prefers to make his living by his wits. 

There was a strong, stalwart youth in the 
days of Solomon, in whom that sagacious 
monarch perceived qualities that commended 
him to his favor. Jeroboam (for that was 
his name) was engaged in the fortifications 
and earthworks near the citadel of Zion, 
which went by the name of Millo ; and the 
king, in the course of his frequent visits to 
the spot, was so struck with the manly form 
and untiring energy of this workman, that 
he determined to give him an important 
advance. For so we read in i Kings xi. 
28: "And Solomon, seeing the young man 
that he was industrious, made him ruler 
over all the charge of the house of Joseph." 

This is very instructive, and perhaps the 
first lesson it suggests is the advantage of 
early traifiing in some form of handicraft. 

Jeroboam began with a pickaxe and ended 
with a throne. If he sometimes blistered 
his hands in digging the earthworks of 
Millo, they were all the better fitted for hold- 



HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. 15 

ing a sceptre. The king was too wise to 
think the less of him because he supported 
his mother and himself by manual labor. 
The men who have risen to the highest 
positions of eminence in our mercantile 
marine knew at one time all the roughing 
and the hard work of the common sailor. 
Our most distinguished civil engineers are 
not ashamed to say that, with grimy hands 
and greasy clothes, they once served their 
time in the noisy workshop or factory. 

It is a vast pity that in certain circles of 
society it seems as if a positive stigma rests 
upon a person who earns hrs bread by the 
sweat of his brow. This most foolish aping 
of aristocratic life appears to be taking a 
firm hold of a large class in this democratic 
country of ours. Everywhere throughout 
society the rage runs to bring up our chil- 
dren to what are called the genteel profes- 
sions, which just means in many cases to 
genteel starvation. It is impossible that a 
whole nation can live by sitting at high 
desks and wielding steel pens. I believe 



BRAVE AND TRUE. 



that one of the lessons God is going to teach 
this counry during the next fifty years is, 
that it is no dishonor to make one's living 
by the labor of one's hands. In the battle 
of the world your scented dandy will be left 
far behind, even though he can talk like a 
philosopher. Some time ago, at a gathering 
in Australia, four persons met, of whom 
three were shepherds on a sheep-farm. One 
of these men had taken his degree at 
Oxford, another at Cambridge, and the 
third at a German university. The fourth, 
will you believe it? was their employer, a 
successful squatter, rich in land and cattle, 
but almost destitute of the elements of an 
ordinary education. 

There is no surer token of a little mind 
than to imagine that anything in the way 
of physical labor is dishonoring. I confess 
to an unbounded contempt for the smart 
young gentleman who would not, on any 
consideration, be seen carrying a parcel 
down the street. 

Our first father was a gardener, and it is 



HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. IJ 

a law of this world which we cannot over- 
turn that man must earn his bread by the 
sweat of his brow. The great bulk of 
mankind must ultimately make their liveli- 
hood by handicraft of some kind or an- 
other. 

" The king himself is served by the field." 
It has been wisely suggested that to all 
our public schools a workshop should be 
attached, where every boy should daily 
spend a portion of his time, and learn some 
handicraft. It is perfectly deplorable, the 
idea that many have taken up, that if their 
kid-gloved hands touch a hammer or screw- 
driver, or lift a box, or tie up a parcel, they 
are lowering their dignity. 

People seem to think — such is the mania 
for speculation and jobbing — that they must 
contrive to make money without hard work, 
and that by a little juggling, by the meeting 
of a few men round a board once a week, to 
drink sherry and talk together, they can 
make far better profits than by real honest 
labor. No, no! All honor, say I, to the 



BRAVE AXD TRUE. 



horny hand and the sweating brow. It was 
because Jeroboam made good use of the 
spade that Solomon made him a ruler. 

Then again, we are also to learn this les- 
son, that whatever be our calling or business, 
the likeliest zvay to rise is to be thorough and 
persevering. 

Some time ago I was taken over one of 
the largest engine factories in all this coun- 
try, where everything is managed with the 
most perfect regularity, and where, though 
some thousands of men are employed, all 
are happy and contented ; and I was struck 
with a remark made to me by the head of 
the firm. 

He said : " I keep a watchful eye upon 
my men. and wherever I see special merit, 
I give an advance; but the instant a man 
demands a rise he is paid off." The best 
and most thorough workers, accordingly, 
were always moving to the front. Any 
arbitrary rule which will put all — the skil- 
ful and the stupid, the industrious and the 
idle — upon one and the same level is an 



BOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. 19 

outrage upon justice, and is to put a pre- 
mium upon incompetency. 

If Jeroboam, with his hands in his pock- 
ets, had hung loosely about the ramparts of 
Millo, he had never been made clerk of the 
works. 

" Seest thou a man diligent in his busi- 
ness? he shall stand before kings." 

When George Peabody, the millionaire 
and philanthropist, visited his native place 
in the year 1855, he said to the young men 
of the village: "Though Providence has 
granted me unusual and unvaried success 
in the pursuit of fortune, I am still in heart 
the humble boy who left yonder unpretend- 
ing dwelling. There is not a youth within 
the sound of my voice, whose early oppor- 
tunities and advantages are not very much 
greater than were my own, and I have since 
achieved nothing that is impossible to the 
most humble youth among you." 

I have no hesitation in saying that most 
eminently successful men have commenced 
life under unfavorable conditions. The 



BRAVE AXD TRUE. 



difficulties stimulated their energies, and 
brought out what was in them. It is rather 
the exception than the rule, that a youth 
brought up under all manner of advantages, 
as regards wealth, and rank, and education, 
has by dint of pluck and perseverance 
forced his way to the front and commanded 
brilliant success. 

How easy to give you a list of notable 
men who, starting from the humblest ranks, 
and without a penny in their pockets, man- 
aged by sheer thoroughness and persever- 
ance to reach a high round of the ladder of 
fame. The immortal Homer began life as 
a beggar ; ^Esop was a slave ; Demosthenes, 
the son of a sword-maker ; the poet Aken- 
side was a butcher's boy; Jeremy Taylor, 
the son of a barber; Ben Jonson, a brick- 
layer; Hugh Miller, a mason; Dr. Living- 
stone, a factory- worker ; Faraday, a book- 
binder's apprentice; Dr. KiUo, a shoemaker. 
Why, I might multiply the instances to 
almost any extent. 

Make good use of the talents God has 



HOW TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. 2r 

given you, be they great or small; apply 
your whole energy to the business you 
have in hand, and look up for the Divine 
blessing on your toil; do this, and — no fear 
of you ! 



II. 
BODY-CULTURE. 

WE are happily becoming delivered of 
the notion which long prevailed in 

• * * certain branches of society, that per- 

• • • sonal religion looks with disfavor on 
physical culture. 

A powerfully built frame, strong muscle, 
and athletic vigor were long associated with 
mental incapacity and a low morale; so that 
a well-developed gymnast had almost to apol- 
ogize for his robustness and agility. It 
seemed to be taken for granted in certain 
circles that a pious youth must necessarily 
be pale and sickly, and lend no encourage- 
ment to out-door sports or pastime. Even 
Pascal once observed that invalidism is the 
natural state of Christians. 

Thank God, something like a revolution 



BOD Y-CUL TURE. 2 3 

in the public sentiment on this subject has 
of late years taken place 

It is now generally acknowledged that 
attention should be given to the full and 
healthful development of every part of man's 
tripartite nature — body, soul, and spirit all 
sharing in the blessings of a genuine and 
intelligent Christianity. 

An important requisite to success in life is 
to be a good animal : and a vigorous bodily 
constitution is not likely to be enjoyed with- 
out a due amount of physical exercise. It is 
said of Cicero of old, that, becoming some- 
what enfeebled and dyspeptic through pro- 
longed mental toil, he adopted as a remedy 
the discipline of the gymnasium, and in two 
years was so fully recuperated, that he re- 
turned to his studies as robust as the peasants 
that worked upon his farm. 

Let it never be imagined that the religion 
of Jesus Christ is on the side of asceticism. 
I would never say to a man who has a mind 
to become a Christian, You must now give up 
the pleasures of the world. There is no one 



24 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

on earth who has so much right to the pleas- 
ures of the world as the man whose heart is 
right with God. 

Come along ; enumerate what you call the 
pleasures of theVorld : make out the inven- 
tory ; and when I ' have run my eye down 
the list, and scored off every one that is in 
any way morally objectionable, I shall pre- 
sent you with a splendid catalogue to 
which Christians have the first and truest 
claim : pleasures — indoor, outdoor ; pleas- 
ures rural and urban; pleasures of nature 
and art. 

I claim, first of all, for Christian young 
men, the exhilarating enjoyment of the ten- 
nis racket, and the croquet mallet, and the 
base-ball club, and the angler's rod, and the 
sportsman's gun, and the cyclist's steed. 
Where God-fearing youth are assembled, let 
wit and hilarity abound, and the shout of 
innocent laughter rend the air ; let healthful 
sports expand the chest and strengthen the 
muscle ; let the graceful oar dip the stream, 
and the evening tide be resonant of boat- 






BOD Y-CUL TURE. 25 

man's song as the bright prow splits the 
crystal billow. 

Away with the notion that the pleasures 
of the world are denied to the Christian! 
There is no single pleasure which a manly 
nature can relish which is not permissible to 
him. I repudiate with scorn the idea that 
when a man begins to be religious, he is 
pinched, dwarfed, and shut up. Rather is 
he liberated and ennobled. " I will walk 
at liberty: because I keep Thy statutes." 
Never were you more completely victimized 
than when you were made to believe that 
life minus the fear of God is more free and 
happy. 

The most saintly man I ever knew, or ex- 
pect to know on this side of heaven, was the 
Rev. Murray McCheyne, of Dundee, whose 
admirable Memoir by Dr. Bonar is one 
of the most useful biographies that ever 
appeared. 

May I tell you an incident of personal 
recollection ? 

One Monday morning, after the labors of 



26 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

a busy and specially solemn Sabbath, Mc- 
Cheyne was walking in the country, along 
with one or two of the most devoted minis- 
ters of the Gospel Scotland has ever pro- 
duced, all of them being then in the bloom 
of early manhood. They were crossing a 
field; and McCheyne, bounding forward, 
started the game of "leap-frog," in which 
the others heartily joined. But a grave and 
aged elder of the kirk, who had witnessed 
the sport, came up, and in the tones of one 
who was fearfully shocked, rebuked the 
divines, who good-humoredly confessed the 
heinousness of their crime, and promised 
never to do the like again ! 

Such innocent sport is good for every part 
of our being, and leaves no evil results. 

I do not deny that athletic exercise is 
sometimes carried to excess, and in some of 
its forms is too often associated with the vice 
of betting. But there is no necessity for its 
being thus prostituted to base and ignoble 
ends. There is no reason why you should 
be ambitious to have the brawn of a profes- 



BOD Y-CUL TURE. 2 7 

sional pugilist, or to be able to lift a thou- 
sand pounds' weight, or walk a hundred 
miles in four-and- twenty hours. There is* 
not the least occasion for your staking your 
pocket-money on a boat race, or betting on 
the issue of a game at base-ball. Some of the 
finest athletes of our own day have been 
pronounced Christians, who were not afraid 
to show their colors. 

The physical vigor that comes of a due 
attention to body- culture adds much, in 
every calling or profession, to the usefulness 
and enjoyment of life. 

An excellent writer has remarked that no 
man is in true health who cannot stand in 
the free air of heaven, with his feet on God's 
free turf, and thank his Creator for the sim- 
ple luxury of physical existence. 

But, with the cramped chest, and quaking 
nerves, and aching head, and disordered 
liver of many a man who neglects his body 
and takes no open-air exercise, life becomes 
more of a burden than a pleasure. Early 
rising, a cold bath every morning, and 



28 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

strictly temperate habits, together with a 
due amount of physical exertion, will do 
more for some than all the tonics the medical 
profession can prescribe. 

Nor are the advantages of the body-cul- 
ture brief and transient ; for, in addition to 
maintaining your physical energies in the 
best condition while you are young, you may 
reasonably expect, with the blessing of God, 
to prolong your days, and enjoy vigor and 
cheerfulness when you are old. Just as you 
neglect the body, you impair your happiness 
and shorten your days. As Horace Mann 
said, with a touch of Irish wit, " Had I lived 
for a month as I see some people do, I 
should have died in a fortnight." 



in. 
HONEST TO THE CORE. 

WAS it not Charles Kingsley who di- 
vided men into three groups: honest 

• • • men, knaves, and fools? — honest men, 

• • • who wish to do right, and do it ; knaves, 
who wish to do wrong, and do it ; and fools, 
who wish to do right, but contrive to do 
wrong. It is to be feared that the two latter 
classes are not altogether extinct ; but I shall 
hope that none of my readers belong to either 
of them. 

In very plain terms does the voice of 
Scripture indorse that of conscience, when it 
says, " The Lord requireth of thee, O man, 
that thou do justly." 

No young man enters on a business life 
with a hopeful future before him who does 

*9 



3° BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

not determine at the outset -that under no 
conditions whatever will he participate in 
unlawful gains, or lend himself to any form 
of fraudulence. 

Unhappily, many of you, on going into 
the mercantile world, are introduced to an 
arena in which deception, chicanery, and 
fraud must at once be met. 

Again and again a dear young fellow, 
uninitiated in the tricks of trade, has come to 
me, and said, " I am at a loss what to do ; in 
the business on which I have entered I find 
a great deal that is not straight; practical 
lies are told every day, and I must either 
wink at them or give up my situation. " 
Remember, it wants tremendous strength 
of moral character for such a lad to go to 
the manager or to his employer, and say, " I 
will have nothing to do with these business 
dishonesties." 

The consequence is, that the greater num- 
ber just keep silent ; they say nothing on the 
matter, but quiet their conscience by think- 
ing it is their employer's lookout, not theirs. 



HONEST TO THE CORE. 31 

And so they become inoculated with the 
poison, and their moral sense is permanently 
injured. 

A well-known wit observed that the youth 
of his country reminded him of the three 
degrees of comparison : their first aim being 
to get on, their second to get honor, and their 
third to get honest. 

On — honor — honest. Now you will do 
well to invert the order. Let strict honesty 
come first ; and no fear that honor and suc- 
cess will follow. The scandal of Christian- 
ity to-day is that so many men who profess 
to be "leaning upon the * Lord," are not 
square in their bargains. 

Talleyrand once replied to a man, who, by 
way of excusing his doubtful method of con- 
ducting business, said, " Why, you know I 
must live!" "I don't see that at all." 
There is no absolute necessity that you 
should live, but there is an absolute neces- 
sity that you should 

In conversation be sincere ; 

Keep conscience, like the noontide, clear. 



32 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

If you cannot maintain your integrity and 
succeed, then less success with a good con- 
science will be a greater gain. 

It is sometimes asserted that there is now 
more honesty in the world than ever, and 
that whatever adulteration of goods is prac- 
tised is insignificant; this I know, there is 
still quite enough to make us blush for 
shame. 

The readiness, a few years ago, to put a 
false name, description, or mark upon manu- 
factured articles appeared in almost every 
trade. In fact, it appeared that almost 
every article that can be purchased for 
money yields its percentage of imposture. 
Be it Sheffield cutlery, or Brussels lace, or 
Irish linen, or French calicoes, it is all the 
same; swindle the public if you can, and 
make your goods fetch more than they are 
worth. 

The devil is always busy tempting men to 
dishonesty ; and the eighth and ninth com- 
mandments are voted out of the Decalogue. 

The best apples are placed at the top of 



HONEST TO THE CORE. 33 

the barrel ; the milk-can holds more liquid 
than the cow is responsible for ; tea at two 
prices comes out of the same chest ; wool is 
mixed with cotton and sold at thirty-five 
inches to the yard; flaws are hidden with 
varnish; shams, impositions, and evasions 
abound on every side. 

Right in the face of all this comes the 
stern command from Heaven: "The Lord 
requireth of thee to do justly." Be straight 
in all your transactions. Abhor every form 
of dishonesty. Refuse to touch any but 
clean money. Believe me, a full purse is a 
poor exchange for a clear conscience. 

It never pays in the end to have God 
against you. It all depends on the mint 
it comes from whether you will find your 
money a curse or a blessing. 

Remember, the Lord's copper is better 
than the devil's gold any day. A pure con- 
science and a stainless character are the best 
capital a young man can possess. Strict 
fidelity, thank God, is still an article of 
high commercial value. Rather would I be 



34 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

Longfellow's "honest blacksmith," who 
"looks the whole world in the face, and 
fears not any man," than I would be the un- 
principled speculator who enriches himself 
at the sacrifice of conscience and of the bless- 
ing of Heaven. Be true to your conscience, 
whatever it may cost you. Never for a 
moment entertain the thought of a transac- 
tion which will not bear the light through 
and through. It is very rarely the case 
that, even as regards the present world, dis- 
honesty proves a good policy. " Be sure 
your sin will find you out." 

Tempted you are certain to be ; but do not 
wait till that moment of trial to determine 
what your conduct shall be ; fix it now ; put 
your foot firmly down, and vow before God 
that never and under no circumstances 
will you say what you do not mean, or do to 
another what you would not wish that he 
should do to you. 

Mirabeau once said, " If there were no 
honesty in the world, it would be invented 
as a means of getting wealth" ; but if a 



HONEST TO THE CORE. 35 

man'5 motive is no higher than that, he 
may, whilst outwardly honorable, be a 
thorough rogue at heart. With you integ- 
rity should be a second nature. 

The youth to whom, when he refused to 
pilfer his employer's till, a companion sug- 
gested, "Nobody will see you," gave the 
admirable reply, " I shall see myself." 

It is a grand thing when a young man has 
such an inherent hatred of all that is under- 
hand, that, policy or no policy, he will be 
truthful and honest right to the core, acting 
on the noble principle of St. Paul, when, as 
it were baring his breast to Heaven, he de- 
clared : " Herein do I exercise myself, to have 
always a conscience void of offence toward 
God and toward man." 

The age needs men who will stand firm to 
principle, and refuse to budge; their spirit 
akin to that of the heroic Nelson when 
he exclaimed, "Victory, or — 'Westminster 
Abbey!" 

Let us hope that, as the years pass on, 
the commerce, not of our land only, but of 



3 6 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

all the nations, will be purified, and that the 
day may not be distant, when — 

Crime shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail, 
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale ; 
Peace o'er the land her olive wand extend, 
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend. 



IV. 
THE TRUE GENTLEMAN. 

GOOD manners are like standard gold — 
they are current all the world over. 

• • • Courtesy is not only in itself a virtue 

• • » and adornment, it is one of the essen- 
tials of civilized and social life. Politeness 
has been defined as benevolence in small 
things. The true gentleman is always 
recognized by his delicate regard for the 
feelings, opinions, and rights of others, 
even in matters that are of but trifling im- 
portance. Well does Tennyson say, " Man- 
ners are not idle, but the fruit of loyal 
nature and of noble mind." 

There cannot be a greater mistake than 
to suppose, as it must be confessed some 
young men appear to do, that gentleness of 

37 



38 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

deportment is a token of unmanliness. On 
the other hand, it may be safely asserted 
that the strongest and bravest men are gen- 
erally the most mild in manner and most 
regardful of the susceptibilities and even of 
the prejudices of others. 

Were there any incompatibility between 
strength and gentleness, then possibly we 
might be pardoned for dispensing with the 
latter: but the two are not only possible, but 
most beautiful, in combination. The man 
is little better than a fool who imagines that 
uncouthness indicates genius, or that rude- 
ness of manner means robustness of char- 
acter: not unfrequently just the opposite 
inference may be drawn. And where un- 
questionable genius is allied with brusque - 
ness of manner, and an apparent disregard 
to the feelings of other people (have we not 
an instance in Thomas Carlyle ?) , the man- 
ner suffers in consequence, and his influence 
for good is impaired. 

It is not necessary to assert unwelcome 
truths in an .offensive way; even the most 



THE TRUE GENTLEMAN. 39 

telling rebuke may be given in a manner 
that will win regard. 

" Gant de velours, main de fer" as the 
French say — the iron hand in the velvet 
glove — if you must draw blood, let it not be 
with a rusty poniard. 

It is one of the first marks of true refine- 
ment of mind to guard against saying 
any thing that unnecessarily gives pain ; as 
Chaucer writes in his " Canterbury Tales " : — 

The firste vertue, sone, if thou wilt leve, 
Is to restreine, and kepen well thy tongue. 

Civility costs little, but is of great value. 
True, as an old proverb has it, "fine words 
butter no parsnips " ; but they are of good 
service, and, like oil, make the wheels of 
life run smoothly. How often has it been 
remarked, that it was not so much what a 
certain person said, as how he said it, that 
left an impression behind. 

Dr. Johnson on one occasion observed to 
a friend : " Sir, a man has no more right to 
say an uncivil thing than to act one; no 



4° BRAVE AND TRUE. 

more right to say a rude thing to another 
than to knock him down." 

Politeness is to a man what beauty is to a 
woman — it at once creates an impression in 
his favor, whilst the absence of it imme- 
diately excites a prejudice against him. We 
may condemn the nation of proverbial good 
manners for its frivolity, but we may at 
least take a lesson from its courtesy ; ask a 
Parisian to show you the road, and without 
even smiling at your poor French he will, 
with the kindest address, give you full direc- 
tion. Contrast this with the curt manner 
with which, as a rule, a stranger's inquiry is 
responded to on our streets. 

There is no doubt that travelling and 
coming in contact with society in all its 
varied forms tends to give one polish and 
agreeableness of manners. 

The rustic youth who has never been fifty 
miles from his native glen, and accordingly 
has hardly rubbed shoulders with men of a 
different way of thinking from himself, is 
naturally narrow and opinionative ; but if his 



THE TRUE GENTLEMAN. 4 1 

heart has been brought under the power of 
Divine grace, this soon rubs off as he sees a 
little of the world ; his prospect enlarges, his 
sympathies widen, and he perceives truth 
and goodness where he had not expected to 
find either. Nothing so mellows and beauti- 
fies the character as true religion ; nor was 
it with any spirit of irreverence that, more 
than a couple of centuries ago, Thomas 
Dekker wrote of the Divine Carpenter of 
Nazareth : — 

A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit, 
The first true gentleman that ever breathed. 

Let me remind you that courtesy, like 
charity, begins at home. The well-bred 
man is as polite within the circle of his own 
family as in the company of his social supe- 
riors. He is a mere prig who takes his good 
manners with him, like his carpet-bag, only 
when he is going from home, whose supreme 
aim is to shine amongst strangers. 

The refinement of a true gentleman will 
be nowhere more conspicuous than in the 



42 Brave and true\ 

society of his own parents and sisters, and in 
the thousand little attentions which cannot 
be formulated in rules, but are prompted by 
a kindly and ingenuous nature. The easy 
surprises of affection, the readiness to oblige, 
the promptness to do a favor, the skill in 
smoothing a momentary jar, the delicate 
abstinence from topics likely to cause irrita- 
tion, — these are amongst the secrets of that 
genuine politeness that goes so far to make 
the home happy. 

One loves to see, in a young man espec- 
ially, alertness to be courteous in the small- 
est things. The very closing of a door on 
leaving a railway car, the giving the inner 
side of the pavement to a lady, the rising up 
to shake hands with a friend who addresses 
you, the respectful raising of the hat, and 
fifty other things may be mentioned as tri- 
fling indeed, in one sense, but most impor- 
tant in another, and sufficient to draw the 
line between an ungainly boor and a Chris- 
tian gentleman. 

Let me remind you that your general bear- 



THE TRUE GENTLEMAN. 43 

ing and deportment will have much to do 
with your future success in life. 

"Give a youth address and accomplish- 
ments," says Emerson, "and you give him 
the mastery of palaces and fortunes where- 
ever he goes." And the Earl of Chesterfield 
was not far wrong when he remarked, " Man- 
ners is all in everything ; it is by manners 
only that you can please and. consequently 
rise. All your Greek," he adds, " will never 
advance you from secretary to envoy, or from 
envoy to ambassador; but your address, 
your air, your manner, if good, may." 

The man who attains success in any call- 
ing is not always the ablest or most diligent ; 
but as a rule he is the man who shows 
the greatest readiness to please and to be 
pleased ; whose courtesy of manners almost 
disarms criticism and insures regard. 

There are countless instances within our 
knowledge in which pleasing manners have 
had much to do with the success, not only 
of lawyers, doctors, and divines, but also of 
clerks, laborers, and men in every walk of 



44 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

life. Of a certain politician it was said that 
the very tones in which he asked for a pinch 
of snuff were more potent than the clearest 
logic. Genuine refinement is the exclusive 
possession of no one class; it is within the 
reach of every one. 

May each of my young men readers so 
bear himself through life, that he may merit 
the couplet Tennyson wrote on Hanlon : — 

And thus he bore without abuse, 
The grand old name of gentleman. 



RUBBISH. 

" qp HERE is much rubbish." So said the 
1 Jewish builders in Nehemiah's time, 

• • • who were set to restore the walls of 

• • • Jerusalem. 

Whilst that single-hearted patriot, though 
in reality in exile, was cup-bearer to Arta- 
xerxes, and living amid all the splendor and 
luxury of Shushan, it was a constant burden 
on his spirit to think of the desolations of 
his own land, of the walls of the sacred city 
lying in ruins, of the temple broken down, 
the ordinances of religion neglected, and the 
people sinking into helpless despair. 

He clearly saw that the one step which, 
under God, would resuscitate the nation, 
revive their spirits, restore their prestige, 

45 



46 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

and lay the foundation of their future pros- 
perity was the rebuilding of their ancient 
and beloved city, and to do this he resolved 
to devote his life. 

Having obtained permission of the Persian 
monarch, and earnestly sought the blessing 
of Heaven, he came to Jerusalem to enter 
upon his gigantic task. With all the energy 
of his nature he threw himself into the un- 
dertaking, and by his inspiring words and 
example so stirred up the whole population 
that they vigorously entered on the work. 
Each several tribe and family had its own 
share allotted to it. 

The various trades were well represented. 

Special mention is made of the activity of 
the goldsmiths, and the apothecaries, and 
the merchants and others, who set to work 
with a will to restore the city. 

In an incredibly short space of time the 
walls began to emerge from the de'bris and 
dust, the gateways were rebuilt, the doors 
with locks and bars were hung, and the city 
gave promise of being once more a place 



RUBBISH. 47 



of strength and beauty; but, oh, the rub- 
bish that had first to be cleared out of the 
way. 

Now, we are builders, or we ought to be. 
Every one has his own share of work to do 
in the building of the temple of God ; and a 
man's life has been utterly thrown away if, 
when it is ended, it is found that he has not 
added so much as a stone to the edifice. 
Some persons are intent on building up a 
business, building up a fortune, building up 
a reputation, but if that is all you have 
before you, it will be a sad thing for you in 
the day of reckoning ! 

God wants you to build for Him, and for 
eternity ; to do your quota in the erection of 
a spiritual temple to Him on earth ; to dis- 
charge your own measure of responsibility 
in regard to the setting up of His blessed 
kingdom, "kingdom of righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." A duty 
devolves upon every one, even the youngest 
and the humblest, in respect to the purifica- 
tion of society, the amelioration of sorrow, 



48 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

the spread of knowledge and happiness, and 
the bettering of mankind. 

You have to rear the sacred edifice of char- 
acter, to raise the stately structure of a life- 
work that shall be to the glory of God : and 
now is the time to set about it in earnest. 
But ever}' one will find., no matter what his 
sphere may be, that if there is much to be 
done, there is, first of all, not a little to be 
undone. In a world like this there is a great 
deal of negative work to be accomplished. 
A heap has to be cleared away before you 
can begin to build. The spade must come 
before the trowel. It is arduous and pain- 
ful; there is no romance or eclat about it; 
but it is necessary in order that the founda- 
tions may be securely laid. The slate is 
scribbled over, and must be cleaned before 
the fair copy can be written. 

When our first parent was placed in Eden, 
God said nothing to him about clearing away 
the weeds and nettles; there was no Dutch 
hoe put into his hand, for as yet the soil was 
clean, and the first gardener's instructions 



RUBBISH. 49 



were simply to dress the garden and keep 
it. It is very different work now. Every- 
where weeds and noxious growths of all 
kinds prevail, and before a man can sow his 
seeds and plant his flowers, there is much 
stiff and unattractive labor in preparing the 
ground for them. 

This negative work may not make any 
show, it may call forth little admiration and 
applause, but it is essential. A friend once 
called upon Michael Angelo in his studio, 
whilst he was at work upon a statue. Some 
weeks later he called again and found the 
great sculptor still engaged on the same 
marble figure. " Why, you have done noth- 
ing to this statue since I saw it some weeks 
ago!" "Oh, yes," replied the incomparable 
genius, "I have; I have removed the blem- 
ish from that limb, and taken away the hard 
expression from that eye, and corrected the 
defect in that muscle." Well, it was only 
negative work, but it was indispensable to a 
successful result. 

" There is much rubbish " of conceits, and 



50 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

prejudices, and misconceptions, and super- 
stitions, and delusions of every sort, in the 
case of most of us, to be cleared away at the 
very commencement of our spiritual educa- 
tion. The mind has to be liberated from 
many a prepossession. Some of us have 
drunk in from the earliest days the most 
erroneous conceptions. It has been our 
trouble from boyhood that we have had to 
unlearn a good many notions which had 
taken such a hold upon us that they warp 
our judgment to this very hour. Even Mar- 
tin Luther bitterly complained that from his 
childhood he had been trained to regard 
Jesus Christ as a severe and angry Judge, so 
that he positively trembled at the mention 
of that name that ought to " sound so sweet 
in a believer's ear." 

Some impressions and opinions, though 
incorrect, may be harmless in their effect, 
but others may throw a lifelong blight upon 
the soul. Columbus was firmly persuaded 
that the world was not more than twelve 
thousand miles in circumference. He, there- 



RUBBISH, 51 



fore, confidently expected that after sail- 
ing about three thousand miles to the west- 
ward, he would touch the shores of the new 
continent. 

It was a big mistake, but it was a harm- 
less one, because he pushed forward all the 
more hopefully in the right direction. 

But had his miscalculations been on the 
other side — had he imagined, for example, 
that the earth's circumference was fifty or 
sixty thousand miles, it is probable he would 
never have planned his expedition, and 
never have made his great discovery. Some 
of us were early taught to think of God as 
far away from us, as a Being, stern, implac- 
able, and delighting in judgment; and that 
impression has done us a world of harm : it 
has discouraged us in moments when we 
were ready to arise and go to Him, and the 
first part of our spiritual education was 
the unlearning of this hideous lie and the 
discovery that, so far from delighting in 
judgment, He "delighteth in mercy," and 
that the Father's arms are opened wide 



BRAVE AND TRUE. 



to welcome the penitent prodigal home 
again. 

The rubbish in the way may take other 
forms. Yes, a man's very gold and silver 
may be the rubbish that is hindering him 
from building up a Christian character and 
a noble life. Money as well as ambition has 
often blocked up the way to heaven, and 
many a youth, when called to the kingdom, 
has, like Saul, been "hid among the stuff." 

A successful merchant lay a-dying, who 
yet seemed as though he could not die, and 
with aimless and nervous restlessness his 
hands kept moving about, opening and shut- 
ting, and clutching the bed-clothes. " What 
is the matter?" asked the physician, who was 
at a loss to know what it meant. " I know," 
said his son, "every night before he went 
to sleep, he liked to feel and handle some of 
his bank-notes. " The youth slipped a bank- 
note into his father's hand, and feeling, 
handling, crumpling it he died. 



VI. 
THE LOVE OF PLEASURE. 

WHEN Solomon says, " He that loveth 
pleasure shall be a poor man" (Prov. 

• • • xxi. 17), he puts his finger upon the 

• • • secret of the failure of nine-tenths of 
our unsuccessful young men. They loved 
pleasure and gave themselves up to its pur- 
suit, and so they have never got on, and — 
never will. Not by any means that to be a 
poor man is necessarily to be an unhappy 
man ; but when poverty comes as the result 
of idleness, and sloth, and self-indulgence it 
is both a curse and a shame. 

None of my readers desire to be poor 

men ; if you are poor just now you hope to 

be rich some day, or at least to be fairly 

well off; and in this wish there is nothing 

53 



54 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

whatever to condemn. Whatever view we 
may take of human life, and of the value of 
money, one thing is certain, that if happi- 
ness is not always found in success, it is 
never found in failure. 

Poverty is, of course, a relative term. 
What one man would deem indigence, 
another would probably consider to be abun- 
dance, but nothing is more surprising than 
the large proportion of men having a fair 
start in life who never, all their days, come 
within sight of the position of comfort they 
had confidently expected to reach. 

A well-known citizen in a large commer- 
cial centre, who had long been acquainted 
with the leading business men of the place, 
gave it as his deliberate opinion that not 
more than three out of every hundred who 
entered upon mercantile life there became 
ultimately successful. Of the great mass of 
young men who every year rush to the cities 
in the hope of doing well for themselves, 
there is but a small percentage who win 
a position of comparative affluence, whilst 



THE LOVE OF PLEASURE. 55 

there are probably large numbers whom, 
to the end of the chapter, every day is 
but a struggle to keep their heads above 
water. 

Now, why is this ? It will not do to say 
that there is not room for all, or that mer- 
cantile life is but a great lottery, in which 
the prizes are so few and the blanks so 
many, that thousands must of necessity col- 
lapse ; no, a very large proportion of the fail- 
ures can easily be accounted for, and the 
ancient sage pointed to one of the most 
conspicuous causes when he asserted, that 
" he that loveth pleasure * shall be a poor 
man." Other causes of non-success among 
our young men can easily be mentioned, — 
financial speculation for example. There 
are always a number of persons who lay 
themselves out to get money by any other 
means than by good honest work ; and when 
a young fellow once gets on this line of rail, 
he is practically done for. "The darkest 
day in any man's earthly career," so said 
Horace Greeley, "is that wherein he first 



56 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

fancies there is some easier way of gaining 
a shilling than by squarely earning it." 

Some remain poor men all their days sim- 
ply through want of business capacity ; they 
are wooden headed, and would spoil almost 
any job they did, unless it were that of turn- 
ing a grindstone. 

Others fail through sheer downright lazi- 
ness, never seeming to be more than half 
awake ; others, through instability of appli- 
cation, and impatience for immediate results ; 
others, through an entire lack of originality 
and enterprise; whilst, in still a fifth case, 
failure has been due to an extravagant san- 
guineness ; for, to listen to them, you would 
suppose they had just tapped a new vein 
that is to bring them a fortune; but said 
fortune never comes. 

After all, however, it is to the love of 
pleasure that a large number of young men 
owe their non-success. 

Pleasure, indeed, is a word of many mean- 
ings, and it must not be supposed that the 
pursuit of it in every form tends to penury. 



THE LOVE OF PLEASURE. 57 

Some find an exquisite pleasure in the con- 
templation of Nature ; others will tell us of 
the pleasure they realize in the study of lit- 
erature, in science, in travel, in music ; and 
many a one, to whom a well-stocked library 
is like a little heaven on earth, can join in 
the words of an old English song : — 

Oh for a book and a shady nook, 

Either indoors or out, 
With the green leaves whispering overhead, 

Or the street cries all about; 
Where I may read all at my ease, 

Both of the new and old ; 
For a jolly good book, wherein to look, 

Is better to me than gold. 

No one would say, in regard to such pleas- 
ures as these, that the man who pursues 
them in moderation will come to poverty, 
for indeed they are elevating and wholesome 
in their character. But I would have my 
readers know that the word Solomon employs 
in his proverb points to pleasure of a very 
different character ; it is rendered " sport " in 
the margin, and indicates a class of amuse- 
ments that are riotous and demoralizing. In 



58 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

what are usually called out-door sports, there 
is nothing which an intelligent Christian is 
called upon to condemn where they do not 
absorb -too much attention and time ; but it 
must be acknowledged that through an ex- 
cessive fondness even for these some young 
men have injured their prospects of business 
success. The craving for amusement re- 
quires sometimes to be curbed ; it is possible 
that games and athletic exercises that are 
innocent enough in themselves, may become 
a snare. Many a man who began life well 
has, through nothing but the inordinate love 
of pleasure, ended in the poorhouse. I have 
seen youths become so enamoured of this, 
that, or the other form of amusement, that 
business was neglected, books were neg- 
lected, even religion was neglected, and 
off they went galloping to ruin. 

Such pleasures, for one thing, generally 
demand money, and when the little stock 
is exhausted the stupid fellows are first 
tempted to borrow what they cannot earn, 
and then to steal what they cannot borrow. 



THE LOVE OF PLEASURE. 59 

An occasional holiday is not enough for 
them ; and instead of throwing their whole 
heart into duty, they are ever planning new 
schemes of diversion. How many an .anx- 
ious parent has occasion to write after this 
style : "I wish you would use your influence 
with my son, and get him to stick more 
closely to his work. James is a nice lad, 
but he is too fond of pleasure and unhappily 
has got among a set of companions who 
are always tempting him to neglect busi- 
ness." 

Well, I recommend Master James to lay to 
heart what a great sage declared three thous- 
and years ago : " He that loveth pleasure 
shall be a poor man." 

The truth of the proverb has been con- 
firmed times without number, and many is 
the elderly man who is eating a dry crust to- 
day, because in youth his motto practically 
was, " Pleasure before Duty." 

Put pleasure in its proper place, and it will 
be doubly sweet. It is those who stick reso- 
lutely to their post, and carry through their 



60 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

task, who not only are on the way to easier 
circumstances by and by, but even now have 
by far the largest enjoyment of legitimate 
pleasure. "The blessing of the Lord it 
maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow 
with it." 



VII. 
"THE BUBBLE REPUTATION." 

VALUABLE as money is, we have it 
on very high authority that there is 

• • • something more valuable still, for Solo- 

• • • mon declares that a good name is to be 
chosen rather than great riches, and is more 
to be desired than silver and gold. What 
a happy thing it is that it is a treasure out 
of the reach of no one ! Wealth you may 
never be able to acquire, but this is a pos- 
session within the grasp of all. 

In the first place, be it remembered that 
a good name must be the fruit of one' s own 
exertion. Of all the elements of success in 
life none is more vital than self-reliance, the 
determination to be, under God, the creator 
of your own reputation. If difficulties stand 

6l 



62 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

in the way, all the better, so long as you 
have pluck to fight through them. 

Let each young man learn to have faith in 
himself, and, scorning props and crutches, 
take earnest hold on life ; believing that, as 
the biographer of Goethe says, " man ought 
to regard himself not (as he is often told) as 
the creature of circumstances, but as the 
architect of circumstances." Many a youth 
has good stuff in him that never comes to 
anything, because he slips too easily into 
some groove of life: it is commonly those 
who have a tough battle to begin with that 
make their mark upon their age. Beetho- 
ven said of Rossini, " that he had the mate- 
rial in him to have made a good musician if 
he had only been well flogged when a boy, 
but that he was spoiled by the ease with 
which he composed." 

Thousands of young men have turned out 
failures because they relied for a good name 
on their excellent parentage, or on the pat- 
ronage of friends, rather than on their own 
personal exertions, 



" THE BUBBLE REPUTATION." 63 

It has not always proved an unmixed bene- 
fit to have a wealthy grandfather or an 
influential uncle, to give the young spark a 
start in life and a reputation on which he 
could trade : not seldom this has turned out 
a real misfortune. Such conditions gener- 
ally issue in the production of a weak and 
molluscous character. Hence it happens so 
often that the sons of merchant-princes, of 
your big city men, turn out mere nobodies. 
It is quite observable that character and 
wealth rarely continue in the ' same family 
for more than two or three generations. 

" What I am I have made myself ; I say 
this without vanity and in pure simplicity 
of heart. " So wrote that brilliantly success- 
ful man, Sir Humphrey Davy ; and it is quite 
remarkable how many of our worthiest and 
most respected citizens have risen to honor 
and position, simply by dint of their stern 
principle and persevering exertion. The 
only good name worth having must be 
sought in this way. 

If it is an honorable ambition for a young 



64 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

man to wish to "get on," it is a still nobler 
ambition for him to wish to "get up," to 
stand high in the respect of all who know 
him ; but if you are hoping to reach this in 
any other way than by your own steady self- 
exertion, ah! my dear boy, you are look- 
ing through the wrong end of the telescope, 
and your prospect can only be dim and dis- 
appointing. 

The next thing I have to say is that the 
pursuit of a good name must be begun in 
early life. Remember, it is not a thing that 
can be created suddenly, it takes years to 
establish, and when youth and adolescence 
are gone, it is next to impossible. It will 
not shoot up in a night like Jonah's gourd 
at Xineveh; but, like that gourd, it may 
perish in a night. The high character 
which it has taken long years to establish 
may in one hour be hopelessly shattered. 
But, thank God, such a case is exceedingly 
rare, especially where the formation has 
commenced at an early age. The sooner a 
boy gives indication of sterling principle, of 



"THE BUBBLE REPUTATION:' 65 

unbending truthfulness, and of genuine 
self-respect, the greater is the confidence we 
may feel in his honorable future. 

Most of the men of our country whose 
names stand for exalted principle, a high 
sense of honor, and splendid beneficence, 
revealed while they were yet beardless 
youths the germs of their future character. 
Even at fourteen or sixteen years of age 
there were not wanting indications of what 
the coming man was to be. I should say 
that in most cases the third septenate of life 
— from fifteen to twenty-one inclusive — is 
the formative period. Let a young man 
pass this season with pure morals and an 
unstained reputation, showing command of 
himself, control of his passions, and diligent 
application to duty, we need have little fear 
that "a good name " will crown hismaturer 
years. 

On the other hand, if at this stage of life 
he gives way to indolent habits, indulges in 
vicious courses, associates with drinking and 
betting men, and betrays an undoubted 



66 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

want of conscientiousness, his character in- 
curs a stain which no subsequent repentance 
is likely to remove. It is usually after he 
has reached his majority that a man be- 
gins to make money; but it is before he 
reaches it that he makes what is far more 
valuable — a good name — a fair, honorable 
character. 

A good name, to be of value, must be based 
on sterling and intrinsic worth. 

Dugald Stewart tells of a young man whose 
supreme ambition was to be able to balance 
a broomstick on his chin; another's highest 
aim is to be the champion sculler, to be the 
first foot-ball player in the country; to be 
A i at a game of billiards, to beat the record 
on his bicycle, to go without food for forty 
days, and so forth. Well, every man to his 
taste ; I am not at present saying anything 
for or against these achievements, but you 
will hardly pronounce any of them the 
noblest form of ambition. No man can be 
expected to rise higher than his own stan- 
dard. 



" THE BUBBLE REPUTATION." 67 

May I venture to mention one or two ele- 
ments which go to the formation of that 
good name that all the gold of the Roths- 
childs could not buy ? 

I give the first place to stern truthfulness. 
No prevarications, no innuendos, no shams. 
Let the strict truth be spoken at all times 
and at all costs. Not this only; for a lie 
may be acted as well as spoken. There may 
be as big a falsehood in omission or in con- 
cealment, as over-statement. As an old 
Latin proverb has it, " Suppressio veri sugges- 
tio falsi" ; i. e., the suppression of truth is 
the suggestion of the lie. Let your word be 
as good as your oath any day; your promise 
as valuable as your bond. You are already 
of consequence in the world if it is known 
you can be implicitly relied upon. Strict 
fidelity is an article of high commercial 
value. You may have a pleasing address, 
good manners, and any amount of brain ; all 
that is worth little if absolute confidence 
cannot be placed in you. Loathe an untruth 
as you loathe death. Be jealous of any 



68 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

weakness on this point of character. Stamp 
it out if it exists. 

Again, let your name be a synonym for 
purity. Let your character, like Caesar's 
wife, be above suspicion. Have such an 
abhorrence of the lewd, the vile, the base 
that the veriest hint of a charge against you 
will rebound and fall harmless at your feet. 
Beware of a word, a look, a gesture, a laugh 
that may be misunderstood, and bring a 
stain upon you. Remember, even a whisper 
of reproach, if there is cause for it, may ruin 
you for life. A pointed cannon is nothing 
to a pointed finger, when the conscience is 
not clear. 

I would have you also have a good name 
for benevolence. Sweeter than the perfume 
of roses is a reputation for a kind, charitable, 
unselfish nature; a ready disposition to do 
for others any good turn in your power. 

Strict integrity and purity are not enough. 
A man is not likely to get on well in the 
world if he thinks of nobody but number 
one. There are many other qualities essen- 



11 THE BUBBLE REPUTATION:' 69 

tial to a fair reputation, which space does 
not permit me to name ; but very important 
it is to keep in mind also what may be called 
the minor moralities of life. A good name 
for punctuality, for example, of what im- 
mense service may this be to a young man, — 
always up to the minute, his watch never 
behind time and he never behind his watch. 
A good name for early rising, for clean and 
tidy habits, for an obliging disposition, for 
plodding perseverance, for regard to econ- 
omy: there is not one of these points you 
can afford to despise, for they all go to make 
up the reputation on which your future must 
largely depend. 



VIII. 
"HARD LINES." 

HOW frequently do we hear the remark 
made regarding some youth who has 

• • • got into trouble, and cannot get out 

• • • again, " Poor fellow ! he has hard 
lines." Misconduct and misfortune not sel- 
dom follow one another in this life ; and too 
often it happens that whilst the latter awak- 
ens sympathy, the former does not evoke 
rebuke. 

In regard to a large number of evil courses 
retribution usually follows without long de- 
lay. Sin never pays. The indulgence of 
vice is not only a crime, but a blunder. It 
can never be good in the long run to have 
God against you. 

When men sin, they do it in expectation 
70 



HARD tINESr It 



of happiness ; the happiness does not come, 
but on the other hand misery. Not once 
within the past six thousand years has a man 
reaped a single real advantage from doing 
wrong. In every instance without excep- 
tion in which one has violated conscience, 
he has eventually been the poorer and the 
sadder for it. Sin means sorrow and pain, 
whether the pain follow immediately or after 
a while. 

Fix this deeply on your mind, you cannot 
contravene the laws of God without suffer- 
ing damage. Probably all men have some 
suspicion of this truth, and though they try 
to forget it, have a rooted conviction that 
God will bring them into judgment for their 
sins. 

But this is not the point I wish to press 
just now. Will the reader remember that, 
in regard to a large class of sins, retribution 
follows in this present world? "The way of 
transgressors is hard " before they have long 
gone on in it. 

At first it promised to be a pleasant road. 



72 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

It looked flowery, smooth, enticing; but it 
turned out to be stony, rough, and rugged. 

Very tempting do many of the avenues of 
vice appear. There lies the danger. You 
look down this path and that, and oh, how 
attractive is the view! Everything to be- 
witch and charm. A greenwood path, as it 
were, festooned with trees, and carpeted 
with flowers ! Such it seems at its opening, 
but as you advance the vision vanishes ; the 
flowery turf changes into sharp, rugged 
stones, and with sore and bleeding feet you 
are forced to own, " The way is hard! " 

I sometimes think that, from exceptional 
circumstances, it has been specially my lot 
for a good many years to come in contact 
with a large number of young men who are 
witnesses to this truth. 

I could fill a volume with the record of 
instances that have come under my own per- 
sonal observation, of promising youths, once 
the joy of their parents and an ornament to 
society, who in the hour of temptation fell, 
and have gone from bad to worse, till now 



HARD LINES." 73 



they are mere wrecks — situation gone, 
money gone, health gone, character gone, 
power of will gone, and all hope gone, and 
they themselves very pictures of misery, fit 
for nothing but to be warnings to others, as 
they wail forth the bitter confession : " The 
way of transgressors is hard ! " 

Some time ago a godly minister from the 
country, who had taken a special interest in 
the spiritual welfare of young men, hap- 
pened to be in London. Passing along 
Cheapside one day, he took refuge from a 
shower of rain in the Mansion House, where 
the Lord Mayor was sitting in court. On 
the following morning, whilst calling at the 
office of a friend, a letter was handed to him, 
which had been thrust in under the door. 
The letter was as follows : 

Tuesday Evening. 
Dear Sir : As I was walking up Ludgate Hill this 
morning, you passed me. It is ten years since I 

left , but I knew you instantly, and forward this 

line to tell you that I am glad to see you looking so 
well, and that the sight of your familiar face induced 
a number of pleasing reflections in connection with 



74 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

bygone scenes, but of agonizing remorse at the 
maddening recollection that from the neglect of 
those principles which you endeavored to inculcate, 
I find myself a young man stripped of fortune, 
friends, character, and hope of the world to come — 
a mere wreck, a waif on the restless waves of life 
that sway to and fro in this great city ! What would 
I not do to recall the past ! The text, 4 Whatsoever 
a man soweth, that shall he also reap, ' thunders in 
my conscience constantly. 

I find it true in temporal affairs as well as spirit- 
ual. The next you hear of me will be in the list of 
those who seek to bury their sorrows in the waters 
of the Thames. 

That a coffee-house is my study is my only 
excuse for this rude scrawl. I thought these feel- 
ings /had smothered forever, but conscience will 
be heard, despite all. I wilfully silence her, and 
now I can trace the retributive hand of Providence 
in the results of every false step. I saw you at 
the Mansion House again in the afternoon. I hope 
you will refrain from making inquiries as to my 
name, as it would be labor thrown away. All I ask 
is an interest in your prayers. 

It can well be believed that the perusal of 
this letter deeply touched the heart of the 
minister, who, though intensely desirous to 
find out the writer, yet, having no clue, 
seemed to have a hopeless task before him. 
However, he determined he would try. 



HARD LINES." 75 



Next morning the following advertise- 
ment appeared in the " agony column " of 
the Times newspaper : 

"A young man who on the 23d inst. ad- 
dressed a note to R. E. M., which was left 
at an office in Gresham Street, is earnestly 
requested to send his name and address to 

the said R. E. M., 356 Post Office, B , 

who will be rejoiced to relieve him." 

Little was expected from this, but it was 
a bow drawn at a venture. 

It was not long before a letter, addressed 
as above, reached the minister by post. I 
will give it you word for word : 

City, Monday. 
Dear Sir: I see that time, that destroys all 
things, has not altered your character, ever kind, 
generous, and anxious to succor the distressed. 
Accept my best and heartfelt thanks for your kind 
communication in the Times; but I regret that you 
should have been at the trouble and expense of 
insertion, as it is impossible for me to avail myself 
of it at the present. The past, the present, and 
the future equally forbid a disclosure of my private 
history ; and yet you are the only person to whom 
I could, I think, unbosom myself, or from whom I 



"J 6 BRAVE AXD TRL'E 

could seek advice; but not now. Do not waste 
another thought upon one who is totally unworthy 
of everything but contempt and derision from all 
good men. Could I persuade myself that there is 
no hereafter, how gladly would I seek annihilation ! 
But it is a hopeless task ; the instincts of my better 
part are unfortunately too truthful to be deluded 
with a lie. What an awful reality is life, and 
what a dream has been mine ! Commencing with 
novel - reading, and ending in vice, misery, and 
disease! Such are a few of the least evils I am 
now reaping. 

I remain, dear sir, yours gratefully, 



All ! this is but one of hundreds of such 
cases which occur every year in our large 
cities, many of which indeed never come to 
the light, but terminate fatally in some dark 
lodging in the slums, or in the poorhouse, 
or the asylum, or banishment beyond these 
shores. Were I not bound to strict confi- 
dence, I could supply many a letter as dis- 
tressing as the above; which, after perusal, 
I have laid down with a heavy sigh, uncon- 
sciously saying: "Verily, the way of trans- 
gressors is hard ! " 

This page may be read by some who are 



HARD LINES: 1 77 



just beginning to venture on the perilous 
incline. Stop! By the grace of God plant 
your foot firmly on the line of principle and 
purity. Have the mind preoccupied with 
noble and inspiring thoughts, and beware of 
what Tennyson calls "sins of emptiness." 



IX. 
THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK. 

SOME time ago, being in the company 
of a friend who had acquired a consid- 

• • • erable fortune, I took the liberty of 

• • * asking him, " Suppose you could com- 
mand whatever income or capital you might 
choose to name, what is the sum you would 
specify as sufficient to make you perfectly 
happy? " His answer was significant. 
Naming a certain figure, he added with 
impressive emphasis, "And a confidential 
clerk or steward to whom I could safely 
entrust the management of all ! " 

Large possessions mean heavy cares, and 
many a man with apparently an unlimited 
income and a corresponding amount of 
varied anxiety, has confessed himself to be 

73 



THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK. 79 



really less happy than when he was earning 
the meagre salary of an ordinary clerk. 

A late Scotch nobleman, being accom- 
panied one day by a friend to the top of a 
hill that overlooked his wide estates, hon- 
estly acknowledged, in reply to the remark, 
" Surely your lordship must be the happiest 
of men," that he did not believe there was 
in all the country round an individual more 
ill at ease than himself. His property, said 
he, involved a burden of care, and he had 
no trustworthy subordinate on whose shoul- 
ders he could lay it. To such a man what 
an enormous relief it must be to secure the 
services of one who makes his master's inter- 
est his own, and who can at all times be im- 
plicitly relied on ! 

In this respect, few men have probably 
been more fortunate than Abraham. A 
landed proprietor on an extensive scale, and 
at the head of an immense establishment, 
he was one of the great magnates of the 
East. 

But in Eliezer of Damascus, who in all 



8o BRAVE AND TRUE. 

likelihood was originally a slave, but whom 
the patriarch had early attached to his house- 
hold, he found one on whose prudence, 
faithfulness, and loyalty he could depend. 

So greatly did this stranger endear him- 
self to his master by his admirable character 
and trustworthiness, that he rose, not only 
to be his chief servant and confidential 
steward, but — failing any issue to the patri- 
arch — to be sole heir to all he possessed. 

Thank God, slavery in its literal sense is 
no longer the reproach and dishonor of our 
fair land. But are there not, even in a free 
country, positions of drudgery and toil that 
are little better? Yet, from time to time, 
we meet with the case of one who, by sheer 
dint of energy and exemplary fidelity, has 
won his way upward from the very lowest 
to almost the highest step of the ladder, and 
who becomes, not even a subordinate, but 
" a brother beloved." 

For true highmindedness and unselfish 
fidelity, few names on the page of Scripture 
are entitled to more respect than that of 



THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK. 



Eliezer of Damascus ; and his loyalty to the 
interests of Abraham was not more conspic- 
uous than his piety. 

As the patriarch's steward or confidential 
clerk, he took everything straight to his 
Master in heaven; and his prayer at the 
well of Nahor was one which every young 
man might profitably offer every morning : 
"O Lord God, I pray thee, send me good 
speed this day." My . earnest advice to 
every youthful reader of these pages is to 
make this short petition his own, and look 
up for the Divine blessing on everything he 
undertakes. 

Even the strictest fidelity to your earthly 
master will not take the place of faithfulness 
to God. When M. Colbert, a successful 
merchant in France, was laid down with his 
last illness, a letter was brought to him 
from the king, but he refused so much as to 
have it read to him. " Let him leave me in 
peace," exclaimed he. " Had I done for my 
God what I have done for that man, I would 
be happier now." It was a remarkable ex- 



82 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

pression from dying lips, showing that it is 
quite possible, with all worldy integrity and 
success, to forget that there is One above to 
whom we are first of all responsible. The 
mere making of money, whether for our- 
selves or for our superior, comes a long way 
short of indicating a successful life; to be 
worth having or earning, it must have the 
blessing of God resting upon it. When 
Jacob Astor, the well-known millionaire 
who by his own abilities had raised himself 
from a very humble position to be one of 
the foremost men in the United States, was 
dying, he asked to be supplied with a sheet 
of paper and a pencil ; and what do you sup- 
pose he wrote ? The man who had been the 
envy of all his fellows, and who had amassed 
more money than he knew what to do with, 
scratched with his trembling hand the mel- 
ancholy confession, " My life has been a fail^ 
ure ! Ah ! my reader, your life too must in 
the end prove a failure, unless the smile of 
God rests upon you. 

I am struck with the earnestness of 



THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK. 83 

Eliezer's prayers for his master. " Show 
kindness," he entreats, "unto my master, 
Abraham." Young men! Do you pray for 
your employers ? Do you invoke the Divine 
blessing on the firm under which you serve? 

It is an unspeakable advantage to any 
mercantile house to have godly assistants 
employed in it ; to have decidedly Christian 
men at the head of the various departments ; 
to have as confidential clerk a man who has 
the fear of God before his eyes. The 
prayers of such men will do more to bring 
true prosperity to the establishment than 
all the sharp tricks of persons who have no 
higher thought than to make gain. 

It is a fine thing to see young men who 
have no selfish ends to promote, and who 
perhaps get no commission or percentage of 
profit on the business they turn over, work- 
ing as diligently as if all the proceeds went 
straight into their own pockets. They will 
be no losers in the end. 

Let every morning, then, find you taking 
this double prayer to your Father in heaven : 



84 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

" Lord God, I pray Thee, send me good 
speed this day, and show kindness to my 
master." 

What a different atmosphere would there 
be in the commercial world, if this practice 
were universal! 

In sailing out of some of our great har- 
bors one may sometimes see a green and 
tattered flag floating over a broken but 
invisible hulk, with the word " Wreck " 
inscribed upon it, and seeming to say, 
"Here a ship went down." So I am ever 
and anon coming across some wasted, ruined 
life, and therefore I am urgent in entreating 
every reader of these pages to go to the 
proper quarter for blessing and success. 



OUT OF A SITUATION. 

OF the host of young men who every 
week find their way to the cities, it 

• • • is only a limited number who come to 

* * • enter vacant situations already secured 
for them ; the majority have just to look out 
for themselves. 

In truth, a good many had been wiser not 
to come at all. In not a few distant country 
places it is quite a common notion, that if a 
youth can only scrape together as much 
money as will pay his way to the city, he is 
pretty sure, within forty-eight hours of his 
arrival, to find a berth exactly to his mind. 
Possibly he believes that so valuable an ac- 
quisition as he will be eagerly sought after. 

Too often the illusion vanishes when his 
feet patter on the hard pavements. 
85 



8 6 BRA I 'E A A D TK I E. 

The stranger is mortified to find that no 
one wants him, and that the big city can 
manage to get on without him. At times I 
have not known whether most to be amused 
or distressed at the expression of vexed sur- 
prise on the face of some new-comer, who 
had evidently expected many an open door 
of welcome. The first bitter experience in 
life has not seldom been the cold rebuffs 
met with by such a too sanguine adventurer. 

What a curious picture of Eastern life is 
that which our Lord incidentally gives us in 
one of His parables, where we read of a 
land-owner who has plenty of work to be 
done on his property, but finds a scarcity of 
men ready to undertake it! 

But on going to the market-place, he sees 
no lack of idlers there. It matters not at 
what hour — be it nine in the morning, or 
noon, or three, or five P. M., as often as he 
goes he finds lazy, indolent fellows loafing 
about waiting for somebody to come and put 
bread in their mouths. 

" Why are you standing here all the day 



OUT OF A SITUATION. 87 

idle?" he inquires. "Because no man has 
hired us." It seems never to have occurred 
to any of them just to step round among 
the vineyards, and see whether they could 
not find a job. I suppose they would sooner 
starve than bestir themselves to seek for 
honest employment. 

Such fellows are not unknown characters 
in any of our large towns; and they claim 
not a particle of sympathy. The idle man 
— I mean the man who is content to be 
idle — is an annoyance, a nuisance. He is 
of no benefit to anybody, an intruder in 
the busy thoroughfare of life — like a 
"crawling cab," hindering the traffic, block- 
ing the way. 

There is nothing more demoralizing than 
idleness. Industry, as Isaac Barrow says, 
is a fence to virtue. "You are right," said 
Frederick the Great to a friend, " in suppos- 
ing that I work hard. I do so in order to 
live, for nothing has more resemblance to 
death than idleness." 

Better turn a cutler's grindstone all day 



88 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

long, than loiter about with the hands 
plunged in the pockets of your trousers. 

In the Louvre, at Paris, the anvil is still 
exhibited at which Louis XVI. was in the 
habit, with the smith's apron on, of endeav- 
oring to keep his energies employed. Idlers 
are the very stock out of which gamblers, 
drunkards, and suicides are formed. When 
a man has nothing to do, his spirit sours, his 
manhood withers. Old Dumbiedykes bid 
his son to be "aye stickin' in a tree, when 
he had nothing else to do" ; and the advice 
was sound. We are often told of persons 
who kill themselves by over- work ; but of 
this I am certain, that many a life is short- 
ened through sheer ennui and aimlessness. 

I shall presume, however, that amongst 
my readers are some who detest idleness, 
but for the life of them can find nothing 
to do. They have strained every effort to get 
a situation, but to this hour are as far from 
it as ever. 

Oh ! it is chilling to go to this house of 
business and that, to call on one and another, 



OUT OF A SITUATION. 89 

and yet another employer of labor, or head 
of a firm, and find that there are no hands 
wanted, to tramp the weary streets day after 
day, knocking at every door that offers a ray 
of hope, presenting testimonials that seem 
all that could be desired, and yet at the 
day's close to be no nearer an appointment 
than before. It is very trying. I confess 
my heart has often bled for such a youth. 

And yet I am bound to say that in many 
cases I have known, the individual himself 
has been largely to blame; perhaps too 
lightly throwing up one situation before 
another has been secured, br coveting a line 
of calling for which his talents did not fit 
him. There is a good deal of truth in what 
Sydney Smith said : " Be what nature in- 
tended you for, and you will succeed; be 
anything else, and you will be a thousand 
times worse than nothing." Every lad who 
is to get on in the world must study his own 
aptitudes. How many young fellows prove 
total failures, simply because they have mis- 
taken the line for which God designed them ; 



9° BRAVE AND TRUE. 

whilst others, with less talents, have met 
with brilliant success, because they got into 
their appropriate groove. 

Young Ferguson's wooden clock gave 
promise of the future astronomer ; Humphrey 
Davy's boyish experiments were a hint 
of the coming chemical philosopher; Far- 
aday's electric machine, made with a big 
bottle ; Watt's study of the steam of the tea- 
kettle; Michael Angelo's pencil sketchings 
at school — all these showed the bent of each 
young mind, and are in keeping with the 
answer of a certain splendid equestrian, 
when asked how he sat so gracefully on the 
saddle, "Oh," said he, "I was born on 
horseback ! " 

But — I come back to my point. It is sel- 
dom there are not some, who, through no 
fault of their own, either fail to find an 
opening, or are thrown out of situations 
which they have filled — Christian young 
men, too, it may be; and they get sadly 
despondent. Perhaps this page meets the 
eye of the very youth I am describing, who 



out Of a situation. 91 

has tramped the city for days without suc- 
cess, and is utterly at a loss what to do. It 
may encourage you to know that not a few 
men who became famous for their commer- 
cial success were at first almost in despair 
like yourself. George Moore, the distin- 
guished London merchant, who died about 
twelve years ago, came from a quiet home 
in Cumberland when he was nineteen years 
of age, and determined to find a sphere of 
usefulness in the metropolis. Many was the 
rub and snub he had to put up with. " It 
seemed," he said, "as if nobody would have 

me. The keenest cut of all was from , 

of Holborn : he asked me if I wanted a por- 
ter's situation. This almost broke my 
heart." 

But on he plodded and persevered; and 
as soon as one door was shut against him, 
he tried another. At last he met with his 
reward. And at the close of his marvellously 
successful life he acknowledged that he could 
see God's faithful and guiding hand all 
through his career, and that those early dis- 



92 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

appointments proved to be for his good. 
Do not lose heart, young friend: there is 
still room for you. See that the grass does 
not grow under your feet; leave no stone 
unturned till you secure an opening; lay 
your case before God, looking in faith for 
His guidance ; and comfort yourself with 
the cheering assurance (Deut. ii. 7) : " He 
knoweth thy walking through this great 
wilderness." 



XL 
"A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK." 

WHOSE son art thou, young man?" 
was the first question addressed 

• • • by King Saul to the rosy-cheeked 

• • • stripling of Bethlehem, when, intro- 
duced by Abner into the royal presence, 
David stood before him, holding Goliath's 
head in his hand. 

A question it is, which one is always 
ready to address to a youth of distinction 
and promise. 

Character is often moulded by parentage, 
and qualities moral, intellectual, and phys- 
ical are transmitted from father and son. In 
numerous instances we see certain tenden- 
cies and idiosyncrasies handed down through 
successive generations. 

Sometimes it is positively amusing. 

93 



94 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

Without a mistake I can recognize in that 
boy's handwriting the pen of his father, and 
of his grandfather, too. In other cases we 
see the hereditary transmission in peculiari- 
ties of figure, or stature, or gesture; in the 
tone of the voice, in hesitancy or volubility 
of utterance, in dimness or nearness of sight, 
or perhaps in the early whitening of the 
hair, or, what is worse, the loss of it. Some 
families are noted for longevity, others for 
good looks, others for love of adventure. 
The aquiline nose runs in the line of the 
Bonapartes, the large lip in the House of 
Hapsburg, the bald head in the House of 
Hanover. 

In some instances there is a certain expres- 
sion of countenance traceable to the third or 
fourth generation. I call upon a young man 
at his lodgings, and take up the portrait- 
album on his table; and instantly I say, 
pointing to a photograph there, though I 
never saw the original, " Ah, you don't need 
to tell me who that is; one can see at a 
glance that you are a ' chip of the old block, ' " 



"A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK." 95 

Mental qualities are transmitted too. 
Without much knowledge of phrenology, I 
have only to look at that lad's head, to see 
from the configuration of it that, like his 
father, he is a mechanical genius ; in another 
case it is musical talent that descends; in 
another the taste for painting; in a fourth 
the love of poetry ; and in a fifth the gift of 
acquiring languages. 

And, what is yet more noticeable, moral 
tendencies, good, bad, and indifferent, pass 
on from parent to child. 

Not long since I heard of a case in which 
a confirmed slave of alcohol actually said, 
" My father was a tippler, my grandfather 
was a drinker before him, I shall be a drunk- 
ard too ; we belong to a race of inebriates. 
I may as well accept my fate, it cannot be 
helped." 

So a fiery temper seems in certain in- 
stances to be perpetuated in successive gen- 
erations; the father fiercely passionate, the 
son and grandson irate too. There are con- 
spicuous cases of close-fisted greed being 



96 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

ancestral ; the old gentleman would save up 
every penny he could scrape together, his 
son is a miser, his grandson a screw. 
You never hear of any member of that fam- 
ily giving money for a good object; they 
are all born to handle the rake rather than 
the pitchfork, to gather together rather 
than to scatter abroad. 

On the other hand, noble and generous 
features of character appear sometimes to 
run in the blood. You are kind and warm- 
hearted, your parents were so before you. 
You are sternly upright and truthful — a 
more scrupulously straightforward man than 
your father never lived. 

Those well-thumbed volumes of Puritan 
theology in your bookshelves ; that big old- 
fashioned Bible, bearing date of more than 
a century ago ; they tell what kind of a stock 
you have come from, and what a legacy of 
prayer you have fallen heir to. Ah! if 
there is anything like a pious momentum 
coming from a long line of Christian progen- 
itors, some of us ought to be godly indeed. 



"A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK." 97 

St. Paul was not afraid of being misunder- 
stood by Timothy when he wrote to him, 
" I thank God when I call to remembrance 
the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which 
dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy 
mother Eunice." 

And this suggests the thought that on 
the mother's side, perhaps even more than 
on the father's, this law of heredity seems 
to prevail. The finger of history points to 
many a gifted man whose talents undoubt- 
edly came to him in the maternal line : his 
mother was a noble woman, and her finest 
qualities were reproduced and intensified in 
her son. 

It is. of such ancestry that one may honor- 
ably be proud. Some very weak persons 
talk of blue blood, and of their high connec- 
tions, and their family crest, and so forth : 
forgetting that it would be something incom- 
parably greater to boast of if the)' could tell 
of a saintly lineage, or of progenitors who 
by their good works had proved a blessing 
to the world. 



BRAVE AXD TRUE. 



Blue blood, as it is called, is by no means 
the purest blood. There are some of the 
highest families in the land whom it would 
hardly be polite to remind of their ancestry ; 
the less said upon that subject the better. 
Probably there are not a few among my 
humbler readers who have more reason to 
be proud of their pedigree than could they 
trace it to a royal family. The purest blood 
on earth is that which for successive genera- 
tions has flowed down through a high-toned 
and godly ancestry. This throws all other 
nobility and aristocracy into the shade. 
Not that one will be a good man merely 
because his forefathers were so before him. 
It is but too plain that grace does not run in 
the blood. 

If a man owes his reputation to nothing 
more than the fragrance that hangs about 
his ancestor's name, one may almost say, in 
the words of Sir Thomas Overbury, that he 
is something like a potato, for the best part 
of him is underground. 

Still, it is an unspeakable advantage to 



-A CHIP OP PHE OLD BLOCK: 99 

have been born and brought up in a Chris- 
tian home. When the earliest recollections 
are linked with beautiful and benignant 
piety, and with all the gracious influences 
that gather round the family Bible and the 
domestic altar, it is a valuable help to a man 
going out to rough it in the world. 

A long line of godly inheritance is some- 
thing that one may be pardoned for rejoic- 
ing in. If you can point to a genealogical 
tree of your family, and show that root, 
stem, branch, and twig were all holy, you 
have good cause to thank God, and to esteem 
yourself as belonging to the peerage of the 
skies. Well did Cowper say : — 

My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
From loins enthroned, the rulers of the earth ; 
But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
The son of parents passed into the skies. 

It is a terrible aggravation of a young 
man's guilt when his daily life is a contra- 
diction to his father's counsels and his 
mother's prayers; when the child of a 
Christian home tramples on all the sacred 



BRA I '£ A XD TR i E. 



memories and traditions of the past, and de- 
terminate!}- breaks through the moral fences 
that had been set around him. Such per- 
sons generally make a sad rebound. The 
worst of men are apostates from the purest 
faith. Tell me what good influences a youth 
has resisted and defied, and I will almost 
calculate the depth of his depravity. I 
never knew an instance of a son of godly 
parentage becoming an outcast who did not 
fall even lower than the average of profli- 
gates. And. on the other hand, in ever}* 
case I have met with — and happily they are 
not a few — of the offspring of reprobates 
turning out virtuous and God-fearing men, 
there has been a corresponding upward re- 
bound, to the praise of Him whose grace 
has oft-times found the brightest diamonds 
in the darkest mines, and the richest pearls 
in the deepest sea ! 



XII. 
FOOLISH PARTRIDGES. 

'Hp HOSE of us who have been brought up 
1 in the country and are not unfamiliar 

• • • with poultry, have sometimes noticed 

• • • beside a duck -pond a very amusing 
sight. 

For my own part, I know, I have laughed 
outright at the astonishment and dismay of 
a respectable barn-door hen standing by the 
edge of a pond, when a whole group of tiny 
ducklings, which she has hatched and 
tended with motherly care, plunge into 
their natural element, the water, and seem 
to say to their foster-parent, " Follow us, if 
you can!" 

The partridge, it is said, is in the habit of 
stealing eggs from the nests of other birds 
of a different species from herself, and of 



102 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

sitting upon them; and when, soon after 
those eggs are hatched, the young birds for- 
sake their false parent, and associate with 
birds of their own order, the old partridge 
looks uncommonly foolish, as she sees all 
her promising brood desert her. The an- 
cient prophet apparently refers to this habit 
when he says : — 

"As the partridge sitteth on' eggs, and 
hatcheth them not (for herself), so he that 
getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave 
them in the midst of his days, and at his 
end shall be a fool." 

So that there are other bipeds besides 
hens and partridges, that by possessing 
themselves of that which does not rightfully 
belong to them, and losing it when it is 
most desired, prove in the end to be but 
fools. 

Be it clearly observed, that the Bible has 
nothing to say against a man's getting rich 
by just and honorable means. The pietistic 
slang sometimes heard in certain quarters 
against the acquisition of wealth has no en- 



FOOLISH PARTRIDGES. 163 

couragement in the Word of God. No- 
where does Scripture assert, as it is some- 
times misquoted, that " money is the root of 
all evil." On the contrary, it declares that 
"money is a defence," and that "it answer- 
eth all things." In spite of all that is said 
against it, it is a powerful instrument in 
doing good ; if it comes to you honorably, 
and goes from you usefully, it is one of the 
greatest blessings you can possess. 

The need of it, and a moderate desire for 
it, prove a valuable incentive to industry. 

We would not be assured that the bless- 
ing of the Lord maketh rich, if wealth were 
necessarily an evil. 

A fine healthy sight it is to see every 
morning in our large commercial cities the 
thousands of young men pressing into the 
city in 'bus or car, or better still on their 
own two feet, eager for business, and deter- 
mined to get on. 

The lad who knows nothing of such ardor 
is not half a man, and does not deserve to 
succeed. By all means throw yourselves 



104 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

heartily into business ; go at it with all the 
vigor and brains you have, and God grant 
that many a youthful reader of these pages 
may be a merchant prince some day ! 

Why not? I have myself known not a 
few young men within the past five-and- 
twenty years beginning on most moderate 
salaries, who worked hard, stuck to their 
business, kept clear of debt, and wrote a 
good clear hand! and now their signature is 
worth many thousands. 

Christian wealth is clean money. 

No reason why, with the grace of God, a 
devotedly pious man should not be conspic- 
uously prosperous. Thank God, many a camel 
has gone through the eye of a needle, spirit- 
ually ; for with God all things are possible. 

But riches, unrighteously gotten, never 
bring a blessing. It is our Maker's design, 
you may be sure, that wealth should be begot- 
ten of honest industry, of real hard work ; 
and those who acquire it otherwise will have 
little joy with it. 

The man who sets himself to make money 



FOOLISH PARTRIDGES. 1 05 

by sharp practice, or by one of the many 
forms of gambling, may possibly meet with 
a certain success; the process of financial 
incubation may for a time seem to be going 
on well ; but by and by, in all likelihood, 
when the egg-shells burst, the fortunes he 
had looked for will take wings and fly away, 
leaving the nest empty, and the poor disap- 
pointed man nothing better than a fool. 

It seems to the rogue, said Thomas Car- 
lyle, that he has found out "a northwest 
passage " to wealth, but he soon discovers 
that fraudulence is not only a crime, but a 
blunder. 

Strict fidelity still fetches a high price in 
the market. To a young man who wrote to 
him for advice, John Bright replied : " In 
my judgment the value of a high character 
for honor and honesty in business cannot be 
estimated too highly, and it will often stand 
for more in the conscience and even in the 
ledger, than all that can be gained by 
shabby and dishonest transactions." 

Said a pawky Scotch farmer to his son : — 



106 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

"John, honest}' is the best policy; I have 
tried both ways myself." 

There is reason to believe that there is a 
good deal more unrighteousness in the mer- 
cantile world than most men are willing to 
allow. Too often there is one code of virtue 
for the home-circle, and another code for 
the office, or shop, or factory — one system 
of morals for the Sunday, and another for 
the week-day. 

Strange as it may seem, thousands of men 
are far more ready to be benevolent than to 
be just. Mr. Gladstone once observed, " I 
would almost dare to say there are five gen- 
erous men for one just man. The passions 
will often ally themselves with generosity, 
but they always tend to divert from justice." 
You cannot be too particular, therefore, in 
seeing to it that every penny you put in 
your pocket is money " got by right." You 
cannot be too scrupulous in regard to the 
straightforwardness of all your business 
transactions. Why, the late George Moore, 
the rich and self-made London merchant, 



FOOLISH PARTRIDGES. 107 

would throw all the clerks in his great es- 
tablishment into a ferment because a trifling 
amount had been charged, for which no 
voucher could be found. This was not be- 
cause he was mean or shabby, but because a 
principle was involved ; and it was the same 
to him whether the amount was small or 
large. 

The Nemesis that follows ill-gotten gains 
generally follows even in this life. 

"In the midst of his days," says the 
prophet, the fraudulent man and his riches 
shall part company. Some unexpected turn 
comes, some monetary crisis, some commer- 
cial disaster, and, lo ! all his hoarded gains 
take wing and fly away, and the poor un- 
principled man is left like the silly partridge 
to sit disconsolate in an empty nest ! 

But, even though it remains with him, ill- 
gotten wealth never makes its owner truly 
happy. Ah! there are plutocrats whose 
tables are covered with silver plate, who 
drink their sparkling champagne, and roll 
along the streets in their sumptuous car- 



108 BRAVE AND TRUE. 

riages. whose hearts are yet unutterably 
miserable. A worm is gnawing at the root. 
Their fortune has been built upon a basis of 
deception bringing with it bitter remorse, 
and though friends may natter, an upbraid- 
ing voice from the unseen is ever whisper- 
ing in their ear one little word of four 
letters, and two of them the same — "Fool!" 
" So is he that layeth up treasure for him- 
self, and is not rich toward God." 



XIII. 

"PLANTS GROWN UP IN THEIR 
YOUTH." 

SCENE : a handsome Oriental residence ; 
enter, and look around. The form is 

• • • quadrangular: in the centre is an 

• • • open court or square, with windows 
looking into it from every side. 

The ancients, in their building arrange- 
ments, did just the opposite of what we do. 
We construct our houses with the gardens 
in front or behind. They built theirs with 
the gardens inside. And so, when you en- 
tered the porch, you found yourself in a 
court, with the rooms all around. In the 
houses of the wealthy this court was laid out 
with wonderful taste, adorned with shrubs 
and trees, with fountains and fish-ponds, 

and elegant statuary. In some instances it 
109 



BRAVE AND TRUE. 



was paved with colored marbles, shadowed 
by olive and acacia trees, and surrounded 
by a piazza, whose entablature rested on 
columns or pilasters, which were frequently 
carved after the figure of a graceful woman 
dressed in long robes. 

Now, I think the reader will catch the 
thought I wish to emphasize. 

In that central court there are two prom- 
inent objects that arrest the eye: the one 
being the young but sturdy trees that grow 
up so vigorous and tall w T ithin the sheltered 
in closure, and the other the polished pillars 
or pilasters that stand so elegantly around ; 
and to the poetic mind of the ancient Psalm- 
ist they were respectively the suggestive 
emblems of the sons and daughters of a 
pious and prosperous household. 

Happy thought! Would that it were 
illustrated in all the homes of our land ! 

Perhaps it may seem at first glance as if 
the two emblems should be reversed: the 
daughters being the graceful trees which 
grow up within the atrium or court, and the 



"PLANTS GRO WN UP IN THEIR YO [ITU." 1 1 1 

sons the solid pillars that support the build- 
ing. But the writer guides his pen wisely : 
and whilst my special aim at present is to 
justify the metaphor he applies to right- 
minded and well-doing young men, it will 
not be denied that the girls are an equally 
important part of a Christian household — 
that virtuous daughters unite families and 
bind them as corner-stones join walls to- 
gether; and that, like polished pilasters, 
they contribute at once to the security and 
the comeliness of the structure. 

When sons are nobles in spirit, and 
daughters are maids of honor, the home be- 
comes a palace. Would that all our homes 
were after this pattern ! " Happy the peo- 
ple that is in such a case ; yea, happy is that 
people whose God is the Lord." 

Our sons are as " plants grown up in their 
youth." This does not mean overgrown 
lads — boys that are prematurely men — 
old heads on young shoulders ; for if there 
is an objectionable class of beings, it is 
this, 



BRAVE AND TRUE. 



Sometimes we hear the excuse offered for 
the follies of youth, " Boys will be boys" ; 
but what else would you have them to be ? 
In my opinion a more frequent mistake is 
that "Boys will be men." Before their 
beards are as long as their teeth, they put 
on the airs and assume the importance of 
full-grown adults. The smooth-cheeked 
laddie who is just from school struts along 
the pavement with his high hat, and his 
cane, and his cigar, and everything but the 
conception what a little fool he is: and 
youths from sixteen to twenty, who ought 
to know better, think it manly to drink 
stimulants for which they have no liking, 
and to frequent places of amusement where 
they will learn nothing that is good. 

No, no; the beautiful simile before us 
countenances no folly of that sort. But, if 
it is foolish for a lad to ape the man, there 
is something that is decidedly worse: and 
that is for one who has reached the years of 
manhood to be still, in taste and intelli- 
gence, only a boy. 



"PLANTS GROWN UP IN THEIR YOUTH." 113 

In truth we sometimes see it — the jacket 
and the satchel have been thrown aside, but 
little else. There is still the same frivolity 
and want of ballast, the same idle larking 
and practical joking, and disinclination for 
sober work, which were pardonable in a 
boy, but which are inexcusable in a man. 
The pleasing picture before the Psalmist's 
mind, as he gazes on the blooming palms, 
olives, and acacias that skirt the atrium, is 
therefore not of any abnormal precocity, but 
of vigorous, healthful, upright, manly, and 
ingenuous youth ; and he feels that this, if 
realized, would be the highest glory of the 
land. God grant that, in this sense, our 
sons may be as plants grown up in their 
youth. It is suggestive — 

1. Of a healthful, vigorous frame. 

The type of man you generally associate 
with a boxer, a wrestler, or prize-fighter is 
not exactly the highest ideal of humanity. 

That mountain of flesh and sinew and 
bone may compete with an ox ; he may form 
a good exhibit at a cattle show ; but as re- 



BRAVE AND TRUE. 



gards all the qualities that ennoble men, he 
may be a very poor specimen indeed. 

Quite true : but we must not run into the 
opposite error of imagining that thoughtful, 
cultured, religious men must be pale-faced 
and delicate, pitifully dyspeptic, with a 
stooping gait and a suspicious cough, and at 
the utmost possible remove from a sound 
physical development. 

I am glad to observe that now, in nearly 
all our Young Men's Christian Associations, 
much attention is being given to the cultiva- 
tion of a robust and well-proportioned phys- 
ique. In order to be fully equipped for the 
task of life, you should use every means to 
secure and maintain a full, normal bodily 
vigor. 

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. 

May the young men of this nation prove 
a stalwart, manly race, and may her sons 
everywhere be like "plants grown up in 
their youth.!" 



"PLANTS GROWN UP IN THEIR YOUTH" I 15 

2. A solid character. 

Character, as Foster says, should retain 
the upright vigor of manliness : it should be 
like an erect yet elastic tree, which, though 
it may accommodate itself to the wind, 
never loses its spring and independent form. 

" Let it not be said," writes George Eliot, 
" that the young men of this age are squashy 
things: that they look well, but wont 
wear." 

Youth unquestionably is prone to excess ; 
and on the sunny side of twenty there is a 
disposition to carry more sail than ballast. 
Nothing is more injurious to a man than 
incessant frivolity. To be always running 
after pleasure betokens a low type of hu- 
manity. Youth should be happy, but seri- 
ous too. Continued levity emasculates the 
soul. To be ever cackling may befit a 
goose, but not a man. 

It is a fine thing to see a young man with 
some solidity about him, some moral back- 
bone — to see stamped upon his very face, 
and gait and manner the self-respect that 



u6 BRAVE AXD TRUE. 

accompanies good sense, integrity, and vir- 
tue. Young men should strive to carry with 
them a moral momentum that shall drive 
before it the trivialities that encumber so 
many, and prove their ruin. Grow like 
young palms, stretching upwards towards 
heaven; or, if you prefer the simile, like 
sturdy English oaks, not dwarfed, nor 
stunted, nor pollarded, but reaching out and 
up towards Him that made you. 

3. A hidden life. 

Doubtless that which chiefly struck the 
eye of the sacred poet as he looked on those 
young trees was their exuberant vitality. 
Whence the height of their stems, the ful- 
ness of their branches, the greenness of 
their foliage, the beauty of their bloom? 
There was a life within, which, springing 
from the root, made itself felt to the remot- 
est leaf and fibre. Under the warm and 
favoring influence of a tropical climate, 
sheltered within the inclosure, yet open to 
the light, and rain, and dew, those trees 
were pictures of full luxuriant life. 



"PLANTS GROWN UP IN THEIR YOUTH r 117 

That life came from God. Man's power 
is marvellous, but it stops short of this. 
Alike in the vegetable and animal world he 
has pushed his explorations almost to the 
fontal spring of being; but he reaches a 
point where his keenest research is arrested. 
He can neither discover nor impart life. 

Equally true is this in the spiritual do- 
main. Personal religion is no development 
from within, no product of moral evolution ; 
its germ must be implanted in the soul by 
the Spirit of God. 

St. Paul speaks of " the power of an end- 
less life" ; the Greek word is duvafit? (the or- 
iginal of dynamite) , and means a vital force 
that cannot be confined. 

Who will not long for the day when the 
" sons of freedom" shall be " as plants grown 
up in their youth " ? when the young men of 
our land, spurning all courses that enervate 
or demean, shall rise to the height of a 
manly dignity, and aim to be. the guardians 
and benefactors of their country? 



A SELECTION FROM 

Fleming H. Revell Company's 

CATALOGUE 



popular IDellum Series, 



Chaste Paper Covers, 16mo, 32 pages, each 20c. 
May also be had with very choice hand-painted floral designs 
on covers, each 50c. 

f)OW tO JBeCOme a Cbttetfan. Five Simple Talks. 
By Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D. 

1. Disciples or Scholars. 2. Believers or Faithful. 
3. Followers or Soldiers. 4. Brethren or Members of the 
Household. 5. Saints or the Holy. 

£be your flfoen. By Rev. James Stalker, D. D., 
author of u The Life of Jesus Christ," etc. 

1. The Man the World Sees. 2. The Man Seen by the 
Person Who Knows Him Best. 3. The Man Seen by Him- 
self. 4. The Man Whom God Sees. 

Zhe tfigbt of JFaitb ano tbe Cost of Cbaracter. 

Talks to Young Men. By Rev. Theodore L. Cuy- 
ler, D.D. 

1bope: The Last Thing in the World. By Rev. A. T. 
Pierson, D.D. 

1bOW tO Xeam 1bOW. Addresses. — I. Dealing 
with Doubt, II. Preparation for Learning. By 
Prof. Henry Drummond, F.R.S.E., F.G.S. 

Gbe tfirst Gbing in tbe Worlo ; or, the Primacy 

of Faith. By Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D. 

XZbe flhessaQe of 5esus to /nben of TKllealtb. a 

Tract for the Times. By Rev. George E. Herron. 
Introduction by Rev. Josiah Strong. 

U>OWer from On 1bigb: Do You Need It, What is 
It, Can You Get It ? By Rev. B. Fay Mills. 

Gbe perfected Xffe: The Greatest Need of the 
World. By Prof. Henry Drummond. 

XOVe, tbe Supreme <3tf t. The Greatest Thing in 
the World. By Prof. Henry Drummond. 



New York. FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY. Chicago. 



The New Enlarged and Authorized Edition of a Remarkable Work. 

THE CHRISTIANS 

SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE. 



This Work, the demand for which 
has been so great as to wear out two 
sets of plates, has now been put in 
entirely new form. The book hav- 
ing become an accepted classic in de- 
votional literature, it was thought 
wise to issue this new edition in a 
compact form, and in a variety of 
bindings. Occasion has also been 
taken by the author to thoroughly re- 
vise the whole work, besides adding 
considerable new matter. 



Few Books of a Religious Character have been 
accorded such Hearty and Universal En- 
dorsement from all Denominations. 

" To commend this work would seem almost superfluous; 
and yet to young Christians who may not know it, we can- 
not refrain from saying, Buy this book, and keep it with 
your Bible for constant study, until you have thoroughly 
mastered, in your own experience, the ' secret ' of which it 
tells. It will transform the dark days of your life, as it 
has transformed those of thousands before you, into days 
of heavenly light." — New York Evangelist. 

" We have not for years read a book with more delight 
and profit. The author has a rich experience, and tells it 
in a plain and delightful manner." — Christian Advocate. 

The "Handy Classic Edition." l8mo, 292 pages as follows: 
Each in separate box, gilt edge, round corners, except No. 3. 




No. 3, Cloth, full gilt edges.. g 85 
4, French Morocco, Seal 

Grain 1 50 

6, French Morocco, Rus- 

tic Gold Bands. 1 50 

7, White Enamel, Easter 

or Wedding Edition. 1 50 

The "Standard Edition. 



No, 8, Persian Calf, Broken 

Glass Pattern $1 75 

10, Calf, plain 2 00 

12, Best German Calf 

Embossed 2 25 

14, Best German Calf 

Padded 2 50 

12mo, 240 pages as follows : 



No. 01 Paper covers 50 I No. 02 Cloth, fine 75 

No. 03 Cloth, full gilt edges 1 00 



new york. :: Fleming H. Revell Company: 



: : Chicago. 



NEW BOOKS FOR THINKING MINDS. 



MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS. The Evidences of Christi- 
anity; or, the Written and Living Word of God. By 
Arthur T. Pierson, D. D. i2mo, cloth, 317 pages, 
<$ 1. 00, Also a cheap edition, paper cover, net, 35 cents. 

In response to repeated requests a cheap edition of this popu- 
lar work has been issued for general circulation while at the same 
time the author has taken occasion to thoroughly revise the 
volume. As a popular and practical work to meet the scepticism 
of the day this work stands alone. 

" Only a man of wide and of broad sympathies, and one who had 
himself come up out of a conflict with doubts, could have so com- 
pletely covered the whole battle field of. unbelief, meeting the 
doubter at every point with a candor that captivates, and a logic 
that conquers. 1 ''— Morning Star. 

"With manly earnestness born of strong convictions, Dr. Pier- 
son presents a series of arguments that can hardly fail to satisfy 
the most exacting doubter/''— Examiner. 

WHAT ARE WE TO BELIEVE? or, The Testimony of Ful- 
filled Prophecy. By Rev. John Urqtjhart. 16- 
mo, 230 pages, cloth 75 cents. 

" This book, so small in bulk but so large in thought, sets forth 
a great mass of such testimony in lines so clear and powerful that 
we pity the man who could read it without amazement and awe. 
It is the very book to put into the hands of an intelligent Agnos- 
tic. "—The Christian, London. 

ENDLESS BEING ; or Man Made for Eternity. By Rev. J. 
L. Barlow. Introduction by the Rev. P. S. 
Henson, D. D. Cloth, 16mo, 165 pages, 75 cents. 

An unanswerable work, meeting the so-called annihilation and 
kindred theories most satisfactorily. The author held for years 
these errors, and writes as one fully conversant with the ground 
he covers. It is a work which should be widely circulated. 

" It so completely cuts away the ground from under the feet 
of the annihilationist as to leave him not an inch to 6tand upon." 
—From Introduction. 

new york:: Fleming H. Revell Company :: Chicago 



SUGGESTIVE BOOKS 

FOR BIBLE READERS. 



THE OPEN SECRET; or, the Bible Explaining 
Itself. By Hannah Whitall Smith. 

That the author of this work has a faculty of presenting 
the "Secret Things" that are revealed in the Word of 
God, is apparent to all who have read the exceedingly pop- 
ular work, " The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life," 
and such will not be disappointed in expecting to find in 
this new volume a fullness and sweetness in the unfolding of 
God's Word, in its application to the practical and daily du- 
ties of Christian living. i2mo, 320 pages, cloth, $1.00. 

BIBLE BRIEFS; or, Outline Themes for Scrip- 
ture Students. By G. C. and E. A. Needham. i6mo, 
224 pages, cloth, $i.oo. 

"Here are sermons in miniature, which any preacher will find it 
profitable to expand into sermons in full measure. True Biblical out- 
lines are here; not artificial 'sketches,' but Scripture frame-works. 
Oh, that the preachers would depend on such frame-works, rather than 
on such /ire-works as many of them attempt !" — Rev. A.J. Gordon, 
D. £>., in The Watchword. 

" Here you have meat without bones, and land without stones. Mr. 
and Mrs. Needham will have the gratitude of many a hard-pressed 
teacher when he is hard up for a talk." — Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. 

BIBLE HELPS FOR BUSY MEN. By A. C. P. 

COOTE. 

Contains over 200 Scripture subjects ; clearly worked out 
and printed in good legible type, with an alphabetical 
index. 140 pages, i6mo, paper, 30c; cloth, 60c. 

" The topics are familiar in thought and form, and are in many cases 
admirably adapted for Bible readings and for prayer meetings. ' Busy 
Men,' upon whom rests the responsibility of leading a meeting and 
choosing a topic, and especially of conducting an evangelistic meeting, 
will find this little book of decided value."— The Golden Rule. 

"Likely to be of use to overworked brethren."— C. H. Spurgeon. 
n Given in a clear and remarkably telling form." } — Christian Leader* 
new ydrk : : Fleming H. Revell Company : : Chicago 



Popular Missionary Biographies 




Fully illustrated. Cloth extra, 75 cents each. 



From The Missionary 
Herald. 

" We commended this ser- 
ies in our last issue, and a 
further examination leads u> 
to renew our commendation, 
and to urge the placing ot 
this series of missionary 
books in all our Sabbath- 
school libraries. 

These books are handsome- 
ly printed and bound and are 
beautifully illustrated, and uc 
are confident that they will 
prove attractive to all young 
people." 



'• These are not pans of milk, but little pitchers of cream, compact and 
condensed from bulkier volumes." — Dr. A. T. Pierson. 

SAMTJEB CBOWIHEB, the Slave Boy who became 
Bishop of the Niger, By Jesse Page, author of '" Bishop 
Patteson." 

THOMAS J. COMBEB, Missionary Pioneer to the 
Congo. By Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist Mis- 
sionary Society. 

BISHOP PATTESON, the Martyr of Melanesia. By 
Jesse Page. 

GBIFFITH JOHN, Founder of the Hankow nrission, 
Central China. By Wm. Robson, of the London Missionary- 
Society. * 

BOBEBT MOBBISON, the Pioneer of Chinese 3Iis- 
sions. By Wm. J. Townsend, Sec. Methodist New Connexion 
Missionary Society. 

BOBEBT MOFFAT, the Missionary Hero ofKuruman, 
By David J. Deane, author of " Martin Luther, the Reformer," etc. 

WIBBIAM CABBY, the Shoemaker who became a Mis- 
sionary. By. Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist 
Missionary Society. 

JAMES CHABMERS, Missionary and Explorer of 
Barotonga and New Guinea. By Wm. Robson, of the 
London Missionary Society. 

MISSION ABY BABIES IN FOBEIGN BANBS. By 
Mrs. E. R. Pitman, author of " Heroines of the Missionary Fields," 
etc. 

JAMES CAIVEBT; or, From Bark to B awn in Fiji. 

JOHN WIBBIAMS, the Martyr of Polynesia. By Rev. 
James J. Ellis. 

HENBY MABTYN, his life and labors. By Jesse Page, 
author of " Bishop Patterson," etc. 

newyork.:: Fleming H. Revell Company :: Chicago. 



Jl?e "ffOI^flECD BOOI£>." 



A COLLEGE OF COLLEGES, NO. 3. Being report of 

the Students' gathering at Northfield, in July, 1889 : Contain- 
ing addresses by Bishop Foss, Rev. M. D. Hoge, D. D., Bishop 
Baldwin, Rev. I. D. Driver, D. D., Prof.W. R. Harper, Rev. A. 
T. Pierson, D*. D., Mr. D. L. Moody and others. 

12mo, 296 Pages, Cloth, $1.00 net. 

The " Practical Talks " as given in report of previous years, 
gatherings, the demand for which has called for so many editions, 
tias induced us to publish an account of this year's proceedings, 
none the less " practical, 11 and we feel sure will be as fully appreci- 
ated. 

COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NOKTHFIELD, or A Col- 

lege of Colleges, No. 2. Conducted during July, 1888 : Con- 
taining addresses by Mr. D. L. Moody, Rev. J. Hudson Tay- 
lor, M. D., Bishop Hendrix, Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D. D., Rev. 
Henry Clay Trumbull, D. D., Prof. W. R. Harper and others. 

12mo, 296 Pages, Cloth, $1.00 net. 
Rev. Joseph Cook. — "It is "well edited, well printed, and well 
inspired from on High. Is full of a Holy Fire of spiritual zeal, 
which I hope to see spread far and wide. 11 

A COLLEGE OF COLLEGES, or Practical Talks to 

College Students. Given in July, 1887, by- Prof. Henry 
Drummond, F. R. S. E., Rev. J. A. Broadus, D. D., Prof. 
Townsend, Rev. A. T. Pierson, D. D., Mr. D. L. Moody and 
others. 

12mo, 288 Pages, Cloth, $1.00 net. 

u The volume closes with a chapter of ' nuggets ' from North- 
field, which is no exception, however, as the other chapters are 
equally rich in ' nuggets. 1 11 — The Independent. 

D. L. MOODY AT SOME. His Home and Home 

Work. Embracing a description of the educational institu- 
tions established at Northfield, Mass., together with an ac- 
count of the various noted gatherings of Christian workers 
at the place, and the most helpful and suggestive lectures, and 
the best thoughts there exchanged; adding, also, many help- 
ful and practical hints for Christian work. 
12mo, 288 Pages, Cloth, Eight Illustrations, $1. 

The New York Evangelist spoke most truly when it said: 
"The public is unaware of Mr. Moody's enormous investments 
at Northfield, that will pay him abundant interest long after he 
reaches heaven. 11 

new york. : : Fleming H. Revell Company : : Chicago. 



Miss Hayergal'3 Poems. 




Author's Edition. 



THE 

Poetical llJorks 

-OF- 
FRANCES 
RIDLEY 

HAVERGAL. 



THE ONLY COMPLETE UNABRIDGED 

AUTHORIZED EDITION PUBLISHED 

IN AMERICA. In i Vol. i2mo, 880 Pages. 

Miss Havergal stands without a peer in the English language 
in the department of religious poetry. The enormous sale of her 
separate books is evidence of a world-wide appreciation. 

Cloth extra $2 00 

Cloth bevelled boards, full gilt edges 2 50 

Half white veil am cloth, gilt top. uncut edges 2 50 
Full Levant. Antique finish 6 00 



We quote the following from the Publishers? Weekly : 

" It is in answer to many requests, that the various 
Poems, Hymns and Songs of Frances Ridley Hav- 
ergal, are comprised in this library edition. The 
labor of love was undertaken by 3Iiss Havli: 
niece, who revised and arranged with much care this 
complete and final edition. The book in paper, print 
and binding is all that could be desired." 

NEwvcKK : : Fleming H. Revell Companv : : cm 



100,000 

SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS. 




A COMPLETE DICTIONARY 



Synonyms and Antonyms, or Syn- 
onyms and "Words of Opposite 
Meaning, With an Appendix 

Embracing a Dictionary of Briticisms, 
Americanisms, Colloquial Phrases, etc., in 
current use ; the Grammatical uses of 
Prepositions and Prepositions Discrimina- 
ted, a list of Homonyms and Homophon- 
ous Words ; a collection of Foreign Phras- 
es, and complete list of Abbreviations and 
Contractions used in writing and printing. 

— BY — 



Rt. Rev. SAMUEL FALLOWS, A. I..D.D. 

OneVol. 512 Pages. Cloth. Price $1.00. 

Cloth, Gilt, Beveled Boards, Canary Edge. Price, $1.50. 



Daily American, Nashville, Tenn.— " A book that may be called 
well nigh invaluable to every class of people — students, literary men, 
public speakers, or any who have much of writing to do. Scarcely any 
.one can afford to do without it, and to the person who writes in a hurry 
it will prove a boon indeed." 

The more one has occasion to use it the more its completeness is 
.observed It covers the field of its work most admirably, and so meth- 
odically arranged as to make reference to a word or colloquialism, or for- 
eign phrase easy. It is among the best, if not the best book of its kind 
written for the practical use of the student. — Inter Ocean. 

This is one of the best books of its kind we have seen, and 
probably there is nothing published in the country that is equal 
■to it.— Y. M. C. A. Watchman. 



-NEW YORK. 



: Fleming H. Revell Company :: Chicago. 



u 



The World's Benefactors." 



UNIFORM WITH THE 

"POPULAR MISSIONARY BIOGRAPHIES." 

12mo, 160 pages fully illustrated. Cloth extra, 75c. each. 



In this series it is proposed to 
issue a number of biographies 
of eminent men, whose work is 
universally acknowledged as 
uplifting, and the record of 
whose lives cannot but be of 
inspiration to the young. Each 
volume will be very fully illus- 
and attractively bound. 




The following are ready : 



Henry M. Stanley, the African Explorer. By Arthur 

MONTEFIORE, F. R. G. S. 



John Bright, the Man of the People. 



By Jesse Page. 
By 



David Livingstone, His Labors and His Legacy. 
Arthur Montefiore, F. R. G. S. 

The Literary World, in reviewing the first of this 
series, says : 

"In presenting us with a popular biography of the 
great traveller whose latest adventures are being fol- 
lowed with such breathless interest, Mr. Arthur 
Montefiore has supplied an obvious want by giving 
a clear and connected view of all Stanley has hitherto 
accomplished, and putting the reader in a position to 
understand the great drama that is now being enacted 
in Central Africa." 

The second is spoken of by the Bookseller as follows : 
" If a thoroughly, popular sympathetic memoir of Mr. 
Bright is in request, readers can hardly do better than avail 
themselves of Mr. Page's graphic narrative." 

new york. Fleming H, Revell Company, Chicago. 



